Southern 

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MAR  -  2  2004 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


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SOUTHERN 


Presbyterian  Pulpit 


A  COLLECTION  OF  SERMONS 


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MINISTERS   OF   THE    SOUTHERN    PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 


The  Presbyterian  Committkk  ok  Puhi.ication. 


Copyrighted  by 

JAMES  K.   HAZEN,   Secretary  of  Publication, 

1896. 


Printed  by 

Whittft  &  Shepperson, 

Richmond.  Va. 


PREFACE. 


Two  motives  have  prompted  the  issue  of  this  vohinie. 
There  has  been  a  distinct  demand  for  a  book  of  practical 
sermons,  suitable  for  reading  in  the  public  worship  of 
God  when  conducted  by  ruHng  elders  of  the  church. 
It  would  seem  easy,  from  the  many  sermons  published, 
to  supply  this  demand,  and  yet  the  selection  is  often 
very  difficult.  We  are  sure  that,  under  such  circum- 
stances, our  people  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  one  of  our 
own  ministers. 

But,  in  addition  to  this  motive,  it  has  seemed  very 
desirable  to  put  in  permanent  form  some  examples  of 
the  work  of  our  Southern  Presbyterian  pulpit,  which  is, 
we  are  confident,  second  to  none  in  eloquence,  doctrinal 
purity,  persuasiveness,  and  practical  power. 

It  will  add  much  to  the  value  of  this  collection  that 
the  readers  will  have  before  them  an  excellent  likeness 
of  the  author  of  the  discourse  to  which  their  attention 
may  be  directed. 

August,  1896. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

The  Transforming  Power  of  the  Gospel 9 

rev.  b.  m,  palmer,  d.  d. 

The  Changing  World  and  the  Unchanging  God, 24 

% 

rev.  MOSES  D.   HOGE,  D.   D. 

"One  Jesus," 40 

rev.  j.  henry  smith,  d.  d. 

The  Gospel  Call, 53 

rev.  GEO.   D,  ARMSTRONG,  D.  D. 

"What  IS  THE  Chaff  TO  THE  Wheat?" 66 

rev.  j.  w.  lupton,  d.  d. 

Christ's  Pastoral  Presence  with  his  Dying  People,   ...      74 
rev.  john  l.  girardeau,  d.  d. 

The  Pitilessness  of  Sin, 86 

REV.  J.  R.  STRATTON,  D.   D. 

The  Happy  Service, 99 

rev.  r.  l.  dabney,  d.  d. 

Seeking  THE  Lord, "8 

REV.  J.  W.   ROSEBRO,  D.  D. 

Our  Redeemer's  Prayer  for  Christian  Unity, 128 

REV.  NEANDER  M.  woods,  D.  D. 

The  Divineness  of  the  Family  Bond M5 

REV.  W.  U.  MURKLAND,  D.  D. 

Why  Believers  Should  Not  Fear, ^^^ 

REV.  A.  W.  PITZER,  D.  D. 

5 


6  CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Thk  Ruler's  Question, 173 

rev  j.  h.  bryson,  d.  d. 

Children  of  the  Covenant, 184 

rev.  s.  \v.  davies,  d.  d. 

Man  Inspired  of  God, 195 

REV.  G.  R.   HRACKETT,  D.  D. 

"How  Long  Halt  Ye  Between  Two  Opinions," 204 

REV.  J.  R.  BURGETT,  I),  n. 

Consecration, 220 

REV.  G.   B.  STRICKLER,   D.   D. 

Personal  Work  for  the  Master, 235 

rev.  w.  n.  scott,  d.  d. 

Joseph  of  Arimathea, 243 

rev.  john  a.  preston,  d.  d. 

The  Strivino  Spirit 255 

rev.  robert  p.  kerr,  d.  d. 

Applied  Christianity, 263 

rev.  r.  k.  smoot,  d.  d. 

The  Three  Causes  OF  Salvation, 277 

REV.  W.   W.   MOORE,   D.  D. 

The  Necessity  of  Christ's  Resurrection 2S7 

rev.  j.  f.  cannon,  i)  1). 

Natural  Law  and  Divine  Providence, 296 

rev.  peyton  h.  hoge,  d.  d. 

Take  Hold  of  God, 307 

rev.  james  i.  vance,  i).  i). 

'  To  Me  TO  Live  IS  Christ," ,    319 

REV.  J.  R.  HOWERTON,  D.  D. 


CONTENTS.  y 

Pace. 

The  Valley  of  Achor, 032 

rev.  g.  l.  petrie,  d.  d. 

Religion  Not  a  Vain  Thing, 3^2 

rev.  samuel  a.  king,  d.  d, 

Jesus' Supreme  Authority, 355 

rev.  c.  k.  hemphill,  d.  d. 

Trust  in  the  Lord, 364 

REV.  JOSEPH  R.  WILSON     D.  D. 

Not  One  Forgotten, 374 

REV.  T.   D.  WITHERSPOON,  D.  D. 

The  Sabbath  Day 384 

REV.  W.   F.  V.  BARTLETT,  D.  D. 

The  Gospel  as  First  Revealed, 399 

REV.  W.  T.   hall,  D.  D. 


THE  TRANSFORMING  POWER  OF  THE 
GOSPEL 

BY  REV.  B.  M.  PALMER,  D.  D. 
Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  New  Orleans,  La. 


"  Therefore,  if  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature  :  old 
things  are  passed  away;  behold,  all  things  are  become  new."— 
2  Cor.  v.  17.  , 

A  NOT  ED  scoffer  was  once  arrested  in  his  noisy  In- 
vective against  Christianity  by  two  simple  ques- 
tions, to  which  a  direct  and  candid  answer  was 
challenged :  What  would,  be  the  ejGfect  upon  the  world  if 
all  men  were  sincere  Christians  ?  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
what  would  be  the  effect  upon  the  world  if  all  men  were 
consistent  infidels  ?  In  the  silence  which  followed  these 
questions  was  manifested  the  skeptic's  defeat.  For  you 
observe  that  he  could  not  return  a  truthful  answer  to  one 
or  the  other  without  abandoning  his  own  case.  The 
argument  is  a  valid  one,  founded  upon  the  moral  effect  of 
the  two  systems  as  compared  one  with  the  other.  If 
Christianity  is  found  to  be  a  system  whose  principles, 
heartily  adopted,  will  relieve  the  world  of  most  of  the 
evils  by  which  it  is  oppressed  and  convert  this  earth 
into  a  paradise,  then,  surely,  it  is  the  last  ot  all  systems 
that  men  ought  to  decry.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  infi- 
delity, overturning  Christianity,  destroys  the  founda- 
tions on  which  all  virtue  and  moraUty  are  based,  then  it 
is  the  last  of  all  systems  that  ought  to  be  upheld.  The 
text  sets  forth  this  transforming  power  of  the  gospel 
over  the  characters  and  lives  of  men. 

9 


lO  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

I  need  scarcely  pause  to  expound  the  beautiful,  though 
simple,  expression,  "if  any  man  be  in  Christ  Jesus"  ; 
for  you  remember  there  are  two  correlative  expressions — 
to  be  in  Christ,  is  one;  for  Christ  to  be  in  us,  is  the 
other ;  and  these  two  expressions  are  employed  in  the 
New  Testament  to  cover,  upon  the  right  hand  and  upon 
the  left  hand,  the  whole  gospel.  To  be  in  Christ  is  to 
be  united  to  him  by  a  living  faith  ;  so  that  we  are  clothed 
with  his  righteousness  and,  as  is  beautifully  expressed 
in  another  Scripture,  "We  are  accepted  in  the  beloved." 
Christ  is  in  us  when  the  Holy  Spirit  forms  the  image  of 
Chrht  in  our  hearts.  We  are  made  new  creatures  in 
him ;  and  then  the  Spirit  carries  forward  the  work  of 
sanctifi cation,  until  at  length  we  are  translated  to  the 
world  of  glory. 

If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  then,  he  is  entirely  trans- 
formed ;  ' '  old  things  are  passed  away  :  behold,  all  things 
are  become  new."  But  let  us  precisely  understand  the 
nature  of  the  claim ;  it  is  by  no  means  affirmed  that  all 
who  profess  Christianity  experience,  in  like  degree,  this 
transforming  change.  Alas,  my  hearers,  many  who 
profess  to  be  the  children  of  God  are  in  * '  the  gall  of  bit- 
terness and  in  the  bonds  of  iniquity."  The  number  is 
larger  still  of  those  converted  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  who 
are,  nevertheless,  imperfectly  developed  Christians. 
And  in  none  of  those  who  are  the  purest  and  best  is  this 
development  completed  till  death.  Not  till  then  is  the 
likeness  to  Christ  made  perfect  by  the  last  touches  of  the 
divine  artist,  and  we  are  delivered  forever  from  the  pre- 
sence and  being  of  sin,  as  before  we  were,  in  a  measure, 
delivered  from  its  power  and  dominion.  But,  in  all 
stages  of  the  work,  the  nature  and  the  reality  of  this 
transforming  change  may  distinctly  be  traced. 

What  is  it,  then,  which  gives  to  the  gospel  its  trans- 


THE  TRANSFORMING  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.         II 

forming  power?  How  comes  it  to  pass  that  whenever 
it  takes  hold  upon  the  sinner  it  makes  him  a  new  crea- 
ture—old things  passing  away  and  all  things  becoming 
new?  I  have  three  special  answers  to  return  to  this 
question,  all  which  are  so  important  that  I  must  break 
each  into  distinct  specifications. 

I.  The  gospel  has  this  transforming  power  over  the 
characters  and  lives  of  men  because  it  undertakes 
TO  deal  with  sin  in  its^ssence  and  root,  and  not 
WITH  sin  in  its  external  forms  or  outward  mani- 
festations. In  this  particular  you  perceive  that  the 
gospel  is  separated,  by  a  long  interval,  from  all  the  sys- 
tems of  moral  reform  which  are  devised  by  men.  We 
have  associations  for  the  suppression  of  intemperance 
and  of  gambling.  We  have  voluntary  organizations,  by 
precept  and  example  to  build  up  specific  virtues  in  the 
world.  All  these  associations,  however  praiseworthy, 
are,  from  the  very  statement  of  the  case,  merely  pallia- 
tive, whilst  the  gospel  claims  to  be  distinctly  reme- 
dial. These  schemes  of  reform  strike  at  particular 
evils ;  they  lop  off  the  diseased  branches  of  the  tree. 
The  gospel  undertakes  to  go  behind  all  these  down  to 
the  sin,  which  lies  at  the  root  of  every  vice.  It  under- 
takes to  effect  a  radical  cure — not  to  remove  the  diseased 
limb  of  the  tree,  but  to  engraft  upon  the  trunk,  and  to 
send  down  into  its  roots  the  virtue  of  a  new  life.  The 
gospel  transforms  the  character  of  man  and  makes  him  a 
new  creature  in  Christ  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  deals 
with  sin  in  its  interior  nature  rather  than  in  its  external 
form.  This  will  be  made  plain  if  we  view  the  gospel 
under  four  different  aspects. 

I.  It  is  the  only  system  which  undertakes  to  provide  a 
perfect  pardon  and  to  readjust  man's  relations  to  the  violated 
law.     In  every  government,  human  or  divine,  the  first 


12  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

thing  to  be  considered  is  our  relation  to  the  law.  Imme- 
diately upon  transgression,  the  law  seizes  the  offender's 
person,  brings  him  before  the  tribunal  of  justice,  convicts 
him  under  the  evidence,  fixes  upon  him  the  sentence  of 
condemnation,  atid  holds  him  in  prison,  awaiting  the 
execution  of  the  penalty.  Of  necessity,  therefore,  in 
seeking  relief,  his  first  concern  will  be  to  settle  with  the 
law  and  to  cancel  its  indictment.  It  does  not  make  a 
particle  of  difference,  at  the  first,  how  the  man  feels  as 
to  his  transgression ;  whether  he  glories  in  it,  or  is  sorry 
for  it;  whether,  if  released  from  punishment,  he  will 
lead  a  life  of  obedience  or  repeat  his  trespass  to  the  end. 
The  first  and  absorbing  question  is  how  to  escape  the 
infliction  of  the  penalty  which  he  has  incurred.  How 
shall  he  come  forth  from  the  shadow  of  his  prison  and 
walk  in  the  free  air  of  heaven  with  an  erect  form,  and 
look  without  a  blush  in  the  faces  of  other  men. 

Now,  this  is  just  what  the  gospel  undertakes  to  do  for 
the  sinner.  It  provides  a  perfect  pardon,  and  secures  it 
upon  principles  of  strict  justice  and  law.  The  imperfec- 
tion of  human  government  is  in  nothing  more  manifest 
than  in  the  fact  that  it  never  can  exercise  mercy  except 
at  the  expense  of  justice.  The  criminal  can  never  escape 
the  penalty  without  inflicting  a  certain  amount  of  injury 
upon  the  country  and  the  law.  If  he  escape  by  any  de- 
fect in  the  evidence  he  is  turned  loose  again  to  prey 
upon  society  as  before.  If  executive  clemency  sets  aside 
the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  court,  a  shock  is  given  to 
the  stability  of  government  by  the  collision  between  its 
two  departments,  which  ought  to  be  mutually  support- 
ing. But  in  the  gospel,  the  justice  and  integrity  of  God 
are  as  completely  vindicated  as  in  the  punishment  of  the 
transgressor.  Whilst  the  sinner  escapes  the  penalty, 
the  law  of  God  is  more  firmly  established  than  before. 


THE  TRANSFORMING  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  1 3 

Such  a  pardon,  in  -which  every  claim  of  law  is  satis- 
fied, goes  to  the  root  of  the  sinner's  case,  so  far  as  his 
guilt  is  concerned,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  a  pardon  which 
can  be  sealed  upon  the  conscience  and  give  it  perfect 
peace. 

2.  The  gospel  provides  that  the  sinner  shall,  by  rcpen- 
ta7ice^  put  away  the  sin  from  himself.  Not  only  does  (}od 
cast  his  iniquities  into  the  sea  and  remember  them 
against  him  no  more,  but  his  grace  enables  the  sinner 
to  concur  in  a  solemn  act  of  repudiation  on  his  part  also, 
whereby  he  is  doubly  separated  from  the  sins  which  he 
bewails.      It  is  thus   expressed   by  the  Apostle   Paul: 

•"That  I  may  win  Christ  and  be  found  in  him,  not  hav- 
ing mine  own  righteousness  which  is  of  the  law,  but 
that  which  is  through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteous- 
ness which  is  of  God  by  faith."  The  first  element  in 
repentance  is,  of  course,  a  true  knowledge  of  sin — its 
very  nature  being  opened  to  the  spiritual  eye  so  as  to  be 
seen  in  its  hidden  deformity.  The  second  element  is  a 
thorough  hatred  of  that  sin,  the  vileness  of  which  is  so 
clearly  perceived,  and  then  bitter  grief  for  its  commis- 
sion. After  this  comes  the  honest  endeavor  to  tuni 
away  from  it.  Thus  repentance,  like  a  sharp  sword, 
cleaves  between  a  man  and  his  sins — causes  them  to  be 
cast  behind  his  back  with  a  most  thorough  repudiation— 
and  leads  him  to  strive  with  a  vigorous  purpose  after 
new  obedience.  What  a  wonderful  system  !  which  not 
only  blots  out  the  sin  from  the  divine  record,  but  gives 
power  to  the  transgressor  himself  to  put  the  offence 
away,  as  disowned  and  rejected  forever!  In  striking 
thus  directly  at  the  dominion  of  sin,  no  less  than  its 
guilt,  the  remedial  character  of  the  gospel  is  disclosed. 

3.  In  the  new  birth  is  communicated  a  superior  and  divine 
life  to  the  soul  * '  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins. ' '      The  spint- 


14  SOUTHERN   PRKSHVTKKIAN   PULPIT. 

ual  life,  which  man  possessed  before  the  fall,  consisted  in 
the  holiness  of  nature  in  which  he  was  created.  In  the 
loss  of  his  original  rectitude,  man  became  spiritually 
dead.  Hence,  in  the  definition  of  original  sin,  as  given 
in  our  standards,  this  "want  of  original  righteousness" 
is  placed  between  "the  guilt  of  Adam's  first  sin"  and 
"the  corruption  of  our  whole  nature,"  as  being  the 
nexus  by  which  the  two  are  bound  together.  The  legal 
process  may  be  briefly  stated  thus :  Adam  being  consti- 
tuted in  the  covenant  the  representative  and  head  of  his 
posterity,  his  act,  whether  of  obedience  or  of  sin,  would, 
by  virtue  of  this  headship,  become  putatively  their  act. 
The  legal  effect  of  this  imputation  of  Adam's  sin  would 
be  to  separate  man  from  God,  with  the  consequent  loss 
of  that  holiness  in  which  he  was  created — and  upon  the 
loss  of  this  original  righteousness  the  entire  corruption 
of  nature  must  ensue.  When,  therefore,  Christ,  the 
second  Adam,  takes  the  sinner's  place  under  the  law, 
and  satisfies  its  claim,  the  righteousness  of  the  substi- 
tute is  reckoned  to  the  sinner  as  his  own — precisely  as 
before  in  the  imputation  of  the  first  Adam's  transgres- 
sion. The  guilt  being  now  removed,  and  the  sinner 
being  legally  restored  to  the  divine  favor,  the  spiritual 
life,  which  had  been  forfeited  under  the  curse,  must  be 
restored.  This  is  done  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  new 
birth,  whereby  the  sinner  is  quickened  into  spiritual  life 
through  the  principle  of  holiness  once  more  implanted  in 
the  soul. 

In  the  power  of  this  new  and  divine  life  the  sinner 
puts  forth  the  act  of  faith  which  appropriates  Christ's 
righteousness,  and  takes  into  actual  possession  what  had 
previously  been  legally  reckoned  as  the  ground  of  recon- 
ciliation with  God.  By  the  same  power  he  exercises 
also  the  repentance  above  described,  by  which  he  be- 


THE  TRANSFORMING  POWKR  OF  THK  GOSPKI..  15 

comes,  on  his  part,  separated  practically,  as  l)ef()re 
legally,  from  the  sins  he  deplores.  In  the  iinpartation 
of  this  new  Hfe  is  begun  the  process  by  which  the  sin  is 
eventually  destroyed,  whose  guilt  has  already  been  par- 
doned, and  its  dominion  already  broken.  But  this  intro- 
duces to  the  topic  of  the  section  that  follows. 

4.  As  stated  above,  the  salvation  of  the  snmer  is  not 
completed  without  the  entire  elimination  of  sin  from  the 
nature  itself,  in  the  sanctification  and  glorification  of  the 
believer.  Language  and  thought  alike  fail  in  depicting 
this  blessed  consummation.  It  almost  staggers  belief 
that  man  shall  not  only  be  delivered  from  the  dominion 
of  sin,  but  eventually  from  its  very  presence  and  being. 
We  accept  it  only  upon  the  divine  testimony,  and  be- 
cause it  is  the  logical  outcome  of  the  scheme  of  grace 
itself.  If,  in  regeneration,  a  divine  life  is  communicated 
to  the  sinner,  its  characteristic  energy  must,  by  its  own 
expulsive  force,  drive  out  the  sin  which  obstructs  its 
growth.  The  power  of  sin  is  daily  weakened,  and  there 
comes  a  moment,  it  may  be  in  the  instant  of  death,  when 
the  last  stain  is  washed  away  in  the  Saviour's  atoning 
blood,  and  the  being  of  sin  is  forever  destroyed  in  the 
soul.  Transformed  into  the  image  of  his  divine  Re- 
deemer and  Head,  the  believer  ascends  to  heaven  with  a 
nature  as  holy  as  that  in  which  he  first  came  from  his 
Creator's  hand.  The  peer  now  of  spotless  angels  who 
never  sinned,  he  teaches  them  the  song  of  redeeming 
grace,  to  which  they  can  only  respond  in  the  mighty 
chorus,  "Blessing  and  honor  and  glory  and  power  be 
unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the 
Lamb  forever  and  ever. ' ' 

Is  not  the  gospel,  then,  a  glorious  remedy  for  sin,  go- 
ing down  to  its  root  to  destroy  it  there  in  the  very  seat 
of  its  life?  •  It  seals. upon  the  conscience  a  perfect  pardon, 


i6  southi-;kn  prksuytkrian  pulpit. 

which  takes  away  all  guilt ;  it  cuts  out  the  cancer  from 
the  man  himself  through  the  surgery  of  an  honest  repen- 
tance ;  it  breathes  a  divine  life  into  the  soul  that  was 
separated  from  (iod,  and  completes  its  beneficence  by 
the  extirpation  of  sin  itself  and  the  transfiguration  of  the 
saint  in  glory.  Here  is  no  palliation  of  an  inveterate 
disease,  but  its  radical  cure  in  a  fourfold  deliverance  from 
W\^  pimishmcnt^  the  dominion,  the  pollution,  and  the  being 
of  sin.  Well  may  the  apostle  say,  '*  If  any  man  be  in 
Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature  :  old  things  are  passed  away ; 
behold,  all  things  are  become  new." 

II.   The  gospel  is  thus  transforming  in  its  influence 

BECAUSE    THE    POWER    IS    DIVINE    BY  WHICH   IT  WORKS. 

It  is  a  law  of  nature  that,  wherever  there  is  motion  there 
is  power  behind  it  as  the  cause.  Now,  when  3^ou  ask 
for  the  power  by  which  this  transformation  is  wTought 
in  the  character  of  the  sinner,  the  answer  ascribes  the 
change  to  the  power  of  God  alone.  There  are  one  or 
two  specifications  under  this  head  also : 

I.  //  is  the  cojiciirrent  power  of  each  person  of  the  God 
head  in  their  official  distinctio7i.  God,  in  the  Scriptures, 
is  revealed  as  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.  These  are 
plainly  distinguished  from  each  other,  so  that  the  Father 
is  never  confounded  with  the  Son,  nor  the  Son  with  the 
Spirit.  Offices  are  assigned  to  each,  which  are  so  dis- 
tinctive that  they  can  neither  be  transposed  nor  consoli- 
dated. Affections  are  attributed  to  them  which  belong 
only  to  persons,  such  as  anger  and  grief.  The  distinc- 
tion, therefore,  is  not  of  attributes  belonging  to,  nor  of 
relations  and  offices  discharged  by,  one  and  the  same 
individual,  but  it  is  a  distinction  of  persons  in  the  ador- 
able Trinity,  who  are  j^et  revealed,  however  incompre- 
hensible the  mystery,  as  the  one  only  living  and  true 
God. 


THE  TRANSFORMING  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  1 7 

It  follows,  from  this  unity  of  being,  that  the  trinity  of 
persons  must  concur  in  every  action  of  the  Deity,  whether 
it  be  in  creation,  providence,  or  grace.  We  accordingly 
find  in  the  Scriptures  all  the  divine  works  referred  now 
to  one  and  now  to  another  of  these  three  persons  respec- 
tively. The  distinct  agency  of  each  is,  however,  not 
clearly  drawn  until  we  come  to  the  scheme  of  rede  mic- 
tion. As  to  the  works  of  creation  and  providence,  the 
distinction  is  sufficiently  intimated  as  the  exercise  of 
power  frovi  the  Father,  by  the  Son,  and  through  the 
Spirit ;  from  the  Father,  in  the  way  of  original  and  su- 
preme authority;  by  \\\^  Son,  in  the  way  of  immediate 
efficiency ;  throiigh  the  Spirit,  in  the  way  of  a  completing 
and  applying  agency. 

If  this  distinction  should  appear  to  you  vague  and  un- 
certain, it  becomes  amazingly  clear  and  full  in  the  scheme 
of  grace.  In  this  the  Father,  as  the  first  in  the  order  of 
thought,  is  the  immediate  representative  of  the  Godhead 
(holds  in  his  hands  the  reins  of  universal  empire),  ad- 
ministers the  law  and  fastens  its  penalty  upon  the  trans- 
gressor. It  is  the  office  of  the  Father,  in  the  covenant 
of  redemption,  to  accept  the  Son  as  the  sinner's  substi- 
tute under  the  law  ;  to  give  the  commission  under  which 
this  Son  shall  act  as  the  Mediator ;  to  accept  the  sacrifice 
by  which  man's  sin  is  expiated;  to  justify  all  those  to 
whom  this  perfect  righteousness  is  imputed;  and  to 
crown  this  Redeemer  and  all  his  seed  with  everlasting 
glory.  The  Son,  in  the  distinction  of  his  personality  as 
the  Son,  undertakes  the  sinner's  cause;  endures  the 
penalty  of  sin  in  his  stead ;  renders  the  obedience  in 
which  he  had  failed;  ascends  to  heaven  to  plead  the 
merit  of  his  sacrifice;  sues  out  the  sinner's  right  to 
pardon  and  life,  and  sends  forth  the  Holy  Spirit  under 
his  royal  commission  to  work  this  complete  salvation 


1 8  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

into  the  experience  of  men.  Whilst  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  third  of  this  trinity  in  unity,  reserv^es  to  himself  the 
final  office  in  this  scheme  of  grace,  in  applying  the  re- 
demption purchased  by  Christ  and  making  the  believer 
meet  for  glory  and  immortality  beyond  the  grave. 

Here,  then,  is  not  only  divine  power,  but  that  power 
concurrentl}^  wielded  by  each  person  of  the  Godhead  in 
each  of  the  three  parts  of  the  scheme  of  grace.  How 
can  it  fail  to  produce  the  effect  which  is  stated  in  the 
text?  If  the  power  of  the  Father  decreeing  this  salva- 
tion, and  the  power  of  the  Son  executing  it,  and  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  applying  it — if  it  all  bears 
directly  upon  the  sinner's  case,  he  must  be  changed 
into  the  image  of  his  Creator,  from  glory  unto  glory. 
The  immediateness  of  this  applied  power  from  each  of 
the  persons  of  the  Godhead  gives  additional  security  to 
the  result,  leaving  no  opportunity  for  the  intrusion  of 
any  disturbing  agency  which  shall  arrest  the  completion 
of  that  which  grace  has  begun. 

2.  //  is  power  spriiigmg  out  of  spontaneous  love ;  ?iot 
intefinitteiit,  but  constant.  There  are  those  of  scientific 
taste  who  amuse  themselves  with  the  eifort  to  discover 
perpetual  motion,  just  as  the  alchemists  of  old  sought 
for  the  w^ater  of  life,  or  labored  to  transmute  the  baser 
metals  into  gold.  Assuming  that  for  all  movement 
there  must  be  a  force,  and  endeavoring  by  a  combination 
of  natural  forces  to  compensate  for  the  loss  of  energy 
experienced  in  producing  motion,  they  hope  to  arrive  at 
movement  which  shall  never  cease.  But  the  secret  of 
all  force  is  found  at  last  in  the  divine  will;  and  God's 
will  is  always  effective,  because  God  always  lives.  In- 
terpose as  many  secondary  causes  as  you  please,  you  are 
compelled,  by  the  law  of  thought  which  seeks  for  the 
efficiency  of  every  cause,  to  ascend  to  the  eternal  purpose 


THE  TRANSFORMING  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  19 

and  thought  of  the  infinite  Jehovah.  Multiply  the  links 
as  you  may,  you  must  have  at  last  the  ring-bolt  which 
suspends  the  chain  from  the  arm  of  him  who  is  himself 
uncaused. 

But  we  would  be  overwhelmed  by  this  conception  of 
infinite  power  if  it  were  not  the  free  movement  of  infinite 
love  as  well.  "Herein  is  love  ;  not  that  we  loved  God, 
but  that  he  loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitia- 
tion for  our  sins."  It  is  power,  indeed;  but  power 
springing  from  a  nature  of  love,  always  under  the  direc- 
tion of  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence.  It  will,  there- 
fore, be  a  constant  force,  carr^'ing  the  provisions  of  the 
gospel  to  their  last  result.  When  power  and  love  com- 
bine the  believer  may  well  utter  the  triumphant  chal- 
lenge, "Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ? 
Nay,  in  all  things  we  are  more  than  conquerors  through 
him  that  loved  us." 

3.  It  is  the  power  pledged  in  the  stipidatiojis  atid  promises 
of  the  divi?ie  covefumt.  The  pledge,  you  perceive,  is  two- 
fold, in  the  stipulations  between  the  parties  to  the  cove- 
nant, and  in  the  promises  made  to  those  who  receive  its 
benefits.  But  who  are  the  parties?  Only  the  persons 
of  the  adorable  Godhead.  Far  back  in  the  silence  of 
past  eternity,  before  sun,  moon,  or  stars  shone  in  tlie 
firmament,  or  any  creature  had  been  fashioned— in  the 
far-off  ages  when  only  God  was,  the  Eternal  Three  de- 
vised the  scheme  by  which  man  should  be  released  from 
the  thraldom  and  guilt  of  sin .  The  distribution  of  offices , 
which  must  be  severally  discharged,  involved  certain 
stipulations  between  those  who  assumed  the  various 
parts.  The  Father  gave  to  the  Son  those  whom  he 
should  redeem ;  the  Son  came  under  obligation  to  rescue 
these  from  eternal  death:  the  Holy  Ghost  gave  his 
pledge  to  apply  this  redemption  to  all  those  for  whom  it 


20  SOUTH KRN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

was  wrought.  Can  this  solemn  compact  fail  without  a 
rupture  in  the  (iodhead? 

The  salvation  thus  secured  under  these  mutual  stipu- 
lations is  made  over  to  the  sinner  under  **  exceeding 
great  and  precious  promises ' '  which  are  ' '  yea  and  amen 
in  Christ  Jesus."  With  what  tender  emphasis  our  faith 
is  here  assured.  Wherever  the  sinner  is  found  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  the  gospel  comes  with  its  repeated 
"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you."  Yes,  sinner,  yes,  it 
constantly  proclaims,  Whosoever  believeth  shall  be 
saved.  Then  comes  the  blessed  "Amen";  the  bene- 
diction which  follows  the  affirmation  and  seals  the  pro- 
mise under  its  own  exultation.  "So  be  it,"  sounds 
the  triple  voice  in  the  pavilion  of  the  Godhead !  "  So  be 
it, ' '  says  the  law  in  the  person  of  the  Father ;  "  So  be  it, " 
cries  divine  mercy  in  the  person  of  the  Son  ;  "  So  be  it, " 
cries  infinite  grace  in  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  grand  ' '  Amen  ' '  rings  through  the  upper  temple  in 
the  song  of  angels,  while  the  glad  echo  goes  up  from  a 
redeemed  earth  to  give  a  new  tone  to  the  music  of  heaven. 

Surely,  he  who  trusts  in  the  Lord  Jesus  plants  his  feet 
upon  a  rock — upon  the  Rock  of  Ages,  the  eternal  rock ; 
the  rock  of  (rod's  own  rectitude,  his  infinite  justice  and 
unchangeable  truth.  With  such  guarantees,  the  gospel 
can  never  fail  to  accomplish  its  last  result  in  the  trans- 
figuration of  the  believer. 

III.    The  gospel  is  thus   transforming  in  its    power 

BECAUSE  IT  BRINGS    THE  WHOLE  AGENCY  OF  MAN   INTO 

CO-OPERATION  WITH  THAT  OF  GoD.  God  is  Unchange- 
able in  his  works  as  well  as  in  his  being.  Having  made 
man  holy  and  put  him  under  law,  he  will  never  contra- 
vene the  principles  of  this  economy,  but  wdll  hold  him 
to  his  responsibility  in  th-e  scheme  of  salvation  as  dis- 
tinctly as  in  the  fall.     No  man  ever  trusted  in  the  Saviour 


THE  TRANSFORMING  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  2  1 

without  a  consciousness  of  his  concurrence  in  the  accep- 
tance of  the  "great  salvation."  The  pardon  is  never 
sealed  upon  us  until  we  embrace  him  who  offers  it.  Not 
only  in  the  first  exercise  of  faith  and  repentance  is  this 
human  concurrence  brought  into  view,  but  through  the 
long  conflict  with  indwelling  sin,  and  in  the  assured 
hope  with  which  the  Christian  mounts  from  the  bed  of 
death  to  sit  at  the  right  hand  of  the  King  in  his  glory. 
It  is  in  the  free  play  of  all  his  faculties,  as  they  are 
emancipated  from  the  bondage  of  sin,  the  transforming 
energy  of  divine  grace  finds  its  manifestation. 

Arresting  all  discussion  at  this  point,  I  press  upon  your 
attention  one  or  two  practical  inferences.  The  first  is, 
the  grave  resporisibility  which  is  hereiji  laid  upon  Goa' s 
children.  So  far  as  the  Scriptures  inform  us,  redeemed 
sinners  are  the  only  representatives  of  God's  most  majes- 
tic w6rk,  and  of  the  most  important  and  holy  principles 
which  he  has  undertaken  to  reveal  to  the  creature. 
What  a  responsibility  !  We  undertake  to  say  to  the  uni- 
verse that  there  is  pardon,  consistent  with  holiness, 
justice  and  truth,  for  the  sinner  that  will  accept  it.  Is 
our  testimony  challenged,  and  do  we  say  the  Bible  affirms 
it?  Let  the  Bible  speak  for  itself.  God  is  his  own  wit- 
ness when  he  puts  these  immortal  truths  on  record  in 
this  book.  But  when  we  are  asked  about  this  pardon 
we  must  draw  the  answer  from  our  own  experience,  be- 
cause the  pardon  purchased  with  blood  has  been  sealed 
upon  our  conscience,  and  has  given  us  peace  and  "joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost."  Upon  this  personal  knowledge 
our  testimony  must  be  based.  We  say  the  power  of 
this  gospel  is  seen  in  making  the  Christian  purer  and 
holier,  until  at  last  he  is  made  perfect  in  Christ's  image. 
How  do  we  know  it?     The  Scriptures  affirm   it.     But 


22  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

where  is  our  testimony  corroborating  the  truth  of  God's 
holy  word  unless  we  experience  this  deliverence  from 
the  power  and  dominion  of  sin  ? 

What  an  august  testimony  to  bear  before  the  world  ! 
Angels  bend  from  their  high  places  in  order  to  hear  it ; 
and  the  world  in  which  we  live  holds  'US  under  their 
jeers  and  taunts  if  we  do  not  act  consistently  with  these 
high  professions.  For  this  reason,  God  converts  men  in 
all  conditions  of  life.  The  King  upon  his  throne  is 
made  a  witness  and  the  beggar  on  the  street,  that  in  all 
these  walks  of  life  men  may  testify  to  the  riches  and 
efficacy  of  divine  grace. 

My  brethren,  this  should  be  with  us  the  main  business 
and  purpose  of  life.  The  first  question  which  should 
come  to  every  professing  Christian  is,  whether  this  or 
that  consists  with  his  character  as  a  child  of  God.  We 
have  no  right  to  put  our  testimony  under  suspicion  by 
being  anywhere  where  a  Christian  ought  not  to  be — by 
doing  anything  which  a  Christian  ought  not  to  do.  Is 
the  responsibility  fearful  ?  Let  us  remember  that  it  is 
also  a  blessed  responsibility.  The  joy  of  life  is  found  in 
its  weighty  trusts.  It  is  worth  little  if  we  cannot  testify 
to  some  truth,  and  throw  out  some  principle  which  shall 
help  our  fellow-men  on  their  ascending  path  from  earth 
to  heaven.  Just  because  these  responsibilities  are  so 
immense,  they  ought  to  be  taken  by  us  as  a  crown  of 
glory.  And  we  shall  be  upon  the  edge  of  the  millenium 
when  the  church  herself  shall  fully  recognize  the  binding 
nature  of  her  own  vow  of  consecration  ;  when  she  shall 
consent  to  draw  the  line  exactly  as  the  world  draws  it, 
sharp  and  clear  betwixt  themselves  and  us. 

The  second  inference  is,  that  the  07ily  hope  of  a  peris h- 
77ig  world  is  in  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.  The  refor- 
mation from  external  vices  may  bring   relief  to  society 


THE  TRANSFORMING  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.         23 

from  many  ills  which  oppress  it,  but  they  work  no  radi- 
cal cure,  even  of  these.  The  waters  can  be  healed  only 
in  the  fountain  from  which  they  flow.  And  let  the  un- 
converted man  see  how  all  practical  difficulties  are  re- 
moved out  of  the  way  of  his  salvation.  He  says,  with  a 
strange  orthodoxy  availing  himself  of  a  truth  which  he 
detests,  that  he  has  no  power  to  believe  or  repent  and 
turn  away  from  sin.  Grant  it ;  but  here  is  the  power, 
in  God  if  not  in  man ;  and  all  that  power  is  offered  with- 
out reserve  to  those  who  will  simply  yield  to  its  exer- 
cise. The  sinner  is  conscious  of  power  to  resist  God's 
truth.  We  ask  that  he  shall  cease  this  resistance,  and 
not  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit  by  smothering  his  convictions 
of  sin.  It  is  true,  there  is  no  power  in  the  unrenewed 
man  to  turn  from  sin  to  holiness ;  but  there  is  power  in 
God,  and  the  only  hope  for  a  world  of  sinners  is,  that 
they  will  become  ' '  willing  in  the  day  of  his  power, ' '  and 
appear  before  his  throne  at  last  as  the  drops  of  the  morn- 
ing dew. 


thh  changing  world  and  the 
Unchanging  God. 

BY  REV.   MOSES  D.   HOGE,  D.  D., 
Pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Richmond,    Va. 


"And,  Thou,  Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  earth;  and  the  heavens  are  the  works  of  thine  hands. 
They  shall  perish,  but  thou  remainest  :  and  they  all  shall  wax 
old  as  doth  a  garment ;  and  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  fold  them 
up,  and  they  shall  be  changed ;  but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy 
years  shall  not  fail." — Heb.  i.  lo,  ii,  12. 

HERE  we  have  disclosed  to  us  in  most  impressive 
terms  the  contrast  between  the  mutability  of  all 
created  things  and  the  unchanging  God 

The  earth,  with  its  apparently  firm  foundations  and 
the  seemingly  steadfast  heavens,  are  declared  to  be  alike 
unsubstantial.  As  they  represent  what  is  supposed 
to  be  most  diirable,  there  is  something  startling  in  the 
quiet  assertion,  "they  shall  be  changed,"  "they  shall 
perish." 

But  if  the  pillared  firmament  can  be  shaken,  if  the 
great  globe  itself  is  to  dissolve  as  an  exhalation  and 
vanish  like  a  vision  of  the  night,  then  the  inference  is 
irresistible  that  all  that  mortal  men  can  construct  by 
manual  skill  or  mental  force;  that  all  the  pageants  of 
time  and  sense,  that  all  the  creations  of  genius  and  all 
the  pomp  and  pride  of  human  glory,  are  still  more  evan- 
escent. 

Nothing  terrestrial  bears  the  stamp  of  indestructibility. 
The  things  that  are  seen  are  temporal,  and  not  only  so, 

24 


THE  CHANGING  WORLD,  ETC.  25 

but  instability  is  their  characteristic  even  during   tlieir 
brief  survival. 

It  is  so  evident  that  this  law  of  change  is  divineh' 
decreed  that  we  are  impelled  to  inquire  for  what  ends 
God  fills  human  life  with  so  much  perturbation.  This  is 
my  theme  to-day — the  ethics  of  change,  the  moral  uses 
of  vicissitude ;  and  I  hope  to  show  that  the  very  fluc- 
tuations of  our  present  state  of  being,  that  what  wl- 
call  the  accidents  that  befall  men ;  that  the  crosses  and 
disappointments  which  are  so  common,  as  well  as  the 
blessings  that  fill  the  heart  with  gratitude  and  joy — 
that  these  are  so  many  instrumentahties  by  which  God 
shapes  and  moulds  human  character,  and  by  which 
he  teaches  men  how  so  to  use  this  present  life  as  to 
be  prepared  for  life  eternal.  The  Scriptures  assert  that 
a  Hfe  of  continuous  prosperity  and  success  breeds  false 
security,  leads  men  to  presume  on  the  future  and  to 
forget  God.  "Because  they  have  no  changes,  therefore 
they  fear  not  God. ' '  They  take  what  we  call  providence 
as  the  natural  course  of  human  events,  and,  gliding 
along  on  a  smooth  sea  with  prosperous  gales,  there  is 
nothing  to  remind  such  that  there  is  one  who  rides  upon 
the  clouds  and  directs  the  storm,  and  then  at  his  will 
makes  all  calm  again. 

So  far  as  the  fact  is  concerned  that  change  character- 
izes human  affairs,  there  is  nothing  that  is  more  readily, 
and  nothing  that  is  more  generally,  admitted.  In  a 
great  variety  of  ways  the  Scriptures  announce  this  truth 
and  try  to  impress  it  upon  the  memories  and  hearts  of 
men.  Sometimes  they  state  the  fact  in  plain,  didactic 
language,  and  sometimes  they  use  the  most  graphic  and 
glowing  figures,  that  by  imagery  and  metaphor  they  may 
deepen  the  impression  that  the  world  is  a  world  of  per- 
turbation, and  that  God  intends  us  to  live  in  the  midst 


26  SOUTHKKN  PKKSBVTERIAN  PULPIT. 

of  vicissitude.  I  find  this  stated  in  one  short  line  which 
inspiration  has  put  upon  record:  **The  fashion  of  this 
world  passeth  away."  "The  pageant  of  this  world 
passeth  away ' '  like  the  plays  performed  on  the  drama- 
tic stage,  where  the  scenery  is  perpetually  shifting,  where 
actors  come  and  go,  where  there  are  representations  of 
imaginary  situations  and  delineations  of  imaginary  char- 
acters and  events,  the  one  rapidly  following  the  other, 
until  the  curtain  drops  and  the  play  is  over.  ' '  All  the 
world's  a  stage, "  and  the  actors  are  the  men  and  women 
whose  smiles  of  joy  and  tears  of  woe  make  up  the  comedy 
or  the  tragedy  of  the  fleeting  show.  And  so  time  moves 
on  until  it  runs  its  appointed  round,  and  the  great  curtain 
drops  on  the  drama  of  completed  human  history. 

We  have  the  same  truth  announced  under  a  different 
figure,  where  inspiration  tells  us  that,  "Here  we  have 
no  continuing  city. ' '  Many  of  the  works  of  men  pos- 
sess great  permanence.  The  great  capitals  of  Old 
World  empires,  with  their  stately  temples,  with  their 
strong,  triumphal  arches,  with  their  massive  walls  forti- 
fied by  tower  and  bastion,  with  their  gigantic  granite 
amphitheatres — these  w^ere  structures  that  seem  to  have 
been  destined  to  defy  the  hand  even  of  that  greatest  of 
all  destroyers,  time.  And  3'et  these  cities  became  the 
prey  of  successive  conquerors.  Again  and  again  they 
were  captured  and  pillaged  and  desolated,  and  the  ban- 
ners of  successive  victors  waved  in  triumph  over  the 
towers  that  were  deemed  impregnable.  At  last  decay 
and  disintegration  followed  the  ruthless  work  of  the  in- 
vader, and  a  mightier  force  laid  those  cities  low,  until 
the  time  has  come  when  the  very  sites  they  once  occu- 
pied is  a  matter  of  dispute. 

Antiquarians  engage  in  long  controversies  as  to  the 
very  places  where  these  imperial  cities  stood,  some  o' 


THE  CHANGING  WORLD,  ETC.  27 

them  that  bore  the  boastful  name  of  "  Eternal."  How 
will  it  be  with  the  cities  of  the  present  generation  ?  I 
shall  not  remind  you  of  Macaulay's  prediction  of  a  man 
sitting  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  solitude  on  a  broken  arch 
of  London  bridge  and  sketching  the  ruins  of  the  cathe- 
dral of  the  world's  metropoHs.  I  have  no  predictions  to 
make  with  regard  to  the  doom  of  the  mighty  cities  that 
now  dominate  the  nations,  and  into  which  all  the  re- 
sources of  power  and  influence  seem  to  be  concentrating ; 
cities  by  and  by  to  rule  the  continents,  and  ultimately 
to  rule  the  world. 

We  see  no  signs  of  decay  and  dissolution  in  the  sover- 
eign cities  of  the  earth  in  the  present  time  ;  and  yet  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  the  old  text  is  just  as  true  of  London 
and  Paris  and  Berlin  and  New  York  and  San  Francisco  as 
it  was  true  of  those  cities  of  which  I  have  just  made 
ment^ion,  that  ' '  Here  we  have  no  continuing  city. ' '  Lhe 
city  may  remain,  but  you  and  I  must  go. 

How  few  of  the  inhabitants  of  any  city  live  in  houses 
which  they  themselves  built.  The  great  majority  of 
people  occupy  houses  through  which  the  representatives 
of  successive  generations  have  passed ;  and  with  regard 
to  those  who  built  and  who  own  the  dwellings  in  which 
they  live,  they  are  but  the  temporary  tenants.  Pres- 
ently their  children  will  sit  at  the  head  of  the  table  and 
manage  all  the  affairs  of  the  household,  and  sometimes 
talk  very  tenderly  and  very  kindly  about  what  father 
and  mother  did  in  their  day.  We  are  only  the  transient 
inhabitants  of  the  places  we  call  home,  and  therefore  it 
is  true  of  us  that  ''Here  we  have  no  continuing  city." 
The  very  habitations  endeared  to  us,  it  may  be,  by  many 
hallowed  associations,  will  fall  first  into  the  hands  of  our 
children  and  afterwards  they  will  pass  into  the  hands  of 
utter  strangers,  and  it  may  be  that  the  very  tradition 


28  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

will  be  lost  as  to  who  once  lived  there  and  as  to  who  was 
the  fonnder  of  the  house. 

But  it  is  not  worth  while,  in  the  illustration  of  my 
theme,  that  I  should  ask  you  to  indulge  in  retrospects. 
It  is  enough  to  invite  you  to  give  me  the  testimony  of 
your  present  observation.  What  is  it?  It  is  this:  that 
you  see  the  inhabitants  of  any  city  with  which  you  are 
familiar  very  rapidly  changing.  There  is  not  a  month 
that  I  do  not  meet  with  some  one  who  visits  this  church 
who  worshipped  here,  it  may  be,  ten  or  twenty  years 
ago.  I  hear  the  same  old,  sad  story.  They  all  say  that 
it  revives  many  pleasant  memories  to  be  within  these 
walls  again,  but  as  they  look  over  the  congregation  it  is 
a  new  and  strange  one  to  them.  It  was  only  here  and 
there  that  they  recognized  a  face  that  they  had  ever  seen 
before.  There  may  be  one  man  in  this  house,  but  not 
more  than  one,  who  heard  the  first  sermon  that  I  preached 
here.  We  constantly  see  changes  in  the  people  around 
us,  whether  we  live  in  the  town  or  the  country.  Last 
week  you  settled  an  account  with  a  man,  but  you  will 
never  settle  another  account  with  him,  and  the  reason  is 
that  he  has  gone  to  his  last  account.  The  other  day  you 
met  with  a  man  and  you  shook  hands  with  him.  You 
did  not  dream  that  that  friendly  pressure  was  the  last. 
The  other  day  a  neighbor  of  yours  moved  into  another 
residence.  Well,  since  then  you  know  he  has  moved 
again,  and  now  he  has  found  another  home.  It  is  the 
place  we  call  the  long  home.  A  few  Sundays  ago  one 
sat  beside  you  in  the  church,  and  heard  just  what  you 
heard.  He  listened  to  the  same  discourse  to  which  you 
listened.  He  united  in  singing  the  same  hymns  of 
praise.  He  heard  the  sounds  that  mercy  utters  from  the 
cross,  but  now  no  voice  of  invitation,  no  melody  of  Zion 
awakens  one  emotion.     Nothing  stirs  the  heart  that  lies 


THE  CHANGING  WORLD,  ETC. 


29 


SO  chill  and  still  in  the  coffin,  and  no  music  penetrates 
that  dull,  cold  ear  of  death.  ' '  Here  we  have  no  continu- 
ing city." 

This  is  a  fact  that  ought  to  do  more  than  make  us 
pensive;  it  ought  to  remind  us  that  the  same  changes 
we  see  in  our  friends  they  see  in  us.  You  meet  a  friend 
that  you  have  not  seen  for  several  years,  and,  you  do 
not  tell  him  so,  on  the  contrary,  you  avoid  giving  him 
any  intimation  of  what  you  observe,  but  you  are  very 
much  startled  to  see  what  a  change  time  has  made  in 
him ;  to  see  how  white  his  hair  has  become,  and  how 
decrepit  his  form  is,  and  how  uncertain  his  movements 
are.  Well,  he  looks  at  you,  and  just  what  is  passing 
through  your  mind  is  passing  through  his.  So  we  are 
all  moving  along  on  the  same  stream,  and  we  are  all 
moving  along  with  exactly  the  same  rapidity.  You 
think  people  grow  old  a  great  deal  faster  than  you  do, 
but  we  are  all  borne  upon  the  bosom  of  the  same  flood 
and  with  a  common  celerity.  None  of  us  have  it  in 
our  power  to  look  up  as  Joshua  did  and  say:  "Sun, 
stand  thou  still ' '  until  I  complete  this  grand  enterprise 
to  which  my  heart  is  linked,  and  to  which  my  life  is 
consecrated.  Alas !  we  cannot  lengthen  out  the  short 
allotted  span,  no  matter  how  intense  may  be  the  desire 
to  live,  no  matter  how  impassioned  may  be  the  longing 
to  complete  the  chosen  task.  Nothing  can  turn  back  by 
one  degree  the  dark  shadow  that  moves  with  dread  cer- 
tainty over  life's  dial.     We  have  no  continuing  city. 

Again  the  figure  changes,  and  the  Bible  reminds  us 
that  "life  is  a  day,"  not  Hke  a  long,  Hngering,  summer 
day;  rather  like  a  crisp,  winter  day,  bright  but  brief. 
You  watch  the  delicate  flush  of  dawn,  and  it  almost 
brings  tears  into  the  eyes  to  see  the  tender  grace  and 
sweetness  of  the  early  summer  morning.     By  and  by 


30  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

the  landscape  grows  brighter  and  the  heavens  more 
brilliant,  and  the  sun  goes  up  to  its  zenith ;  but  it  does 
not  stand  there  in  the  mid-heaven,  for  presently  it  begins 
to  decline,  and  by  and  by  it  goes  down  with  a  sombre, 
mellow  glory,  not  so  bright  and  not  so  cheery  as  the 
morning  ray,  but  with  a  pensive  glory  it  goes  down  to 
its  western  bed,  and  then  the  evening  comes.  So  in- 
fancy is  that  tender  break  of  day ;  that  sweet,  bright 
dawn  ;  but  how  quickly  infancy  merges  into  youth,  and 
how  soon  youth  matures  into  middle  age.  Then,  when 
middle  age  comes,  how  swift  the  decline  and  how  soon 
the  shadows  of  evening  and  the  cold  dews  begin  to  settle 
around  us.  Then  comes  the  night,  "in  which  no  man 
can  work." 

Again  the  figure  changes,  and  we  are  told  that  life  is 
like  the  "troubled  sea."  If  there  is  anything  whatever 
that  is  an  impressive  emblem  of  life,  it  is  the  sea  with 
its  unrest ;  the  sea  with  its  perpetual  moan ;  the  sea  that 
is  always  changing  its  face — bright  and  blue  when  the 
heaven  is  clear  above,  black  and  ominous  when  clouds 
darken  the  sky  ;  sometimes  sleeping  in  a  deceitful  calm, 
and  then,  at  the  wind's  voice,  waking  into  fury;  the  sea 
with  its  tides  ebbing  and  flowing  through  its  mighty 
heart,  and  with  resounding  surge  washing  the  shores  of 
all  continents.  Oh  !  what  an  emblem  this  is  of  human 
life !  Life,  with  its  surprises  and  fluctuations,  with  its 
uncertainties  and  perpetual  perturbations. 

I  do  not  know  of  anything  that  is  seen,  or  that  has 
been  created,  that  does  not  bear  the  impress  of  change 
and  decay.  This  is  true  of  all  the  works  of  men  to 
which  I  have  made  reference ;  but  there  are  some  works 
of  men  that  are  far  more  permanent  than  great  cities, 
than  triumphal  arches,  than  colossal  columns.  It  is  a 
great  mistake  to  think  that  these  things  represent  what 


THE  CHANGING  WORLD,  ETC.  3 1 

is  most  enduring  in  the  world.     There  is  the  kingdom 

of  mind — the  kingdom  of  mind  that  outlasts  matter 

the  triumphs  of  mind,  and  the  structures  that  genius 
rears  which  are  far  more  enduring  than  those  that  the 
architect  can  ever  erect.  See  how  the  intellects  of  men 
have  been  held  spell-bound  in  unquestioning  obedience 
to  the  great  philosophies  that  in  turn  have  subjugated 
thought  and  given  direction  to  the  ethical  loeliefs  of  man- 
kind ;  the  philosophies  of  Plato,  of  Aristotle,  of  Epicurus, 
and  the  successive  philosophies  which  have  displaced 
them  in  modern  times — the  one  chasing  the  other  like 
shadows  over  a  plain.  Sir  Walter  said  one  day,  as  he 
looked  at  a  painting  and  shook  his  head  :  "A  painter  is 
mistaken  if  he  thinks  that  by  a  picture  he  can  perpetuate 
his  fame."  Said  he,  "No  man  can  perpetuate  his  fame 
in  that  way,  because  the  picture  fades  and  the  canvas 
upon  which  it  is  painted  by  and  by  crumbles.  The  only 
thing  that  endures  is  literature."  My  friends,  I  do  not 
know  of  a  more  sad  mistake  than  that.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  of  the  classic  Greek  and  Roman  writers, 
whose  pure  style,  like  the  pure  air  of  Egypt,  keeps  bright 
and  fresh  the  colors  of  the  interiors  of  their  tombs,  there 
is  nothing  more  ephemeral  than  literature.  The  very 
art  of  printing,  which  preserves  all  other  arts,  will  by 
and  by  make  literature  an  impossibility  so  far  as  immor- 
tality is  concerned,  because  of  the  very  multiplication  of 
those  products  of  the  human  intellect.  Go  into  the  great 
libraries  of  London,  or  Paris,  or  St.  Petersburg,  or  in 
some  of  the  American  cities,  and  you  see  nothing  more 
sad  than  those  vast  shelves  crowded  with  the  works  of 
men  that  once  commanded  the  attention  of  their  genera- 
tion, but  their  books  lie  as  unnoticed  as  mummies  in 
Egyptian  tombs.  There  they  lie  embalmed,  without  the 
possibility  of  a  resurrection.     A  great  library  is  a  mau- 


32  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

solemn  of  dead  thought.  Therefore,  there  is  no  hope  of 
obtaining  anything  like  a  permanent  renown,  even 
through  that  long-surviving  influence. 

When  we  come  to  scie7ice,  we  think  if  there  is  anything 
that  is  settled  and  fixed  we  will  find  it  there.  Not  so ; 
there  is  as  much  fluctuation  in  science  as  there  is  in 
general  literature.  A  text-book  that  was  an  authority 
twenty  years  ago,  is  only  worth  the  price  that  the  buyer 
of  old  paper  would  give  for  it ;  and  what  are  called  the 
exact  sciences  are  so  inexact  that  a  book  on  geology  or 
chemistry  that  was  printed  ten  years  ago  is  worthless 
now  and  everywhere  rejected. 

But  there  is  one  thing  far  more  permanent  than  the 
noblest  creations  of  genius,  and  that  is  nahire ;  but  na- 
ture itself  is  not  an  exception  to  the  law  of  change. 
Look  at  the  mountain,  look  at  the  sea,  and  you  say, 
' '  There  is  something  over  which  time  has  no  influence. ' ' 
Wait  a  bit.  A  man  comes,  we  will  say,  from  the  Old 
World.  He  emigrates  in  his  boyhood  to  this  country, 
and  after  a  lapse  of  fifty  years  he  has  a  great  longing  to 
go  back  and  see  his  native  village.  He  has  a  thousand 
tender  memories  about  it,  and  thinks  if  he  could  only 
see  that  village  once  more  he  would  be  willing  to  leave 
the  world  satisfied.  He  makes  the  trip  and  finds  the 
place.  Almost  at  the  first  glance  he  says  to  himself: 
"I  am  disenchanted."  What  an  air  of  desolation  and 
loneliness  rests  over  the  place.  He  walks  about  and 
does  not  recognize  a  single  face  as  one  he  ever  saw  be- 
fore. He  walks  about,  and  people  cast  careless  glances 
at  him  as  they  would  at  any  stranger,  but  nobody  looks 
at  him  a  second  time.  He  goes  to  the  house  where  he 
was  born,  but  it  is  not  tenanted  now ;  it  is  a  ruin.  And 
then  he  says,  "Well,  there  is  one  place  where  I  can  go 
and  get  comfort.     I  will  go  to  the  little  spot  sacred  to 


THE  CHANGING  WORLD,  ETC.  33 

the  memory  of  the  loved  and  lost."  He  goes  there,  and 
finds  the  enclosure  broken  down.  He  finds  the  graves 
grown  over  with  weeds  and  briers.  He  finds  the  head- 
stone lying  some  distance  from  the  grave  and  broken  in 
two ;  and  there  is  not  a  place  in  the  world  that  looks 
more  desolate  and  lonely.  Nobody  ever  visits  that  spot 
now;  it  is  a  dolorous  solitude.  Once  affection  lingered 
and  wept  there,  but  now  all  the  sighs  that  are  heard 
there  are  the  sighs  of  the  night  wind  through  the  droop- 
ing willows,  and  the  only  tears  are  the  cold  dews  that 
trickle  down  the  broken  marbles.  ' '  Well, ' '  he  says,  ' '  all 
this  is  changed,  but  nature  is  not  changed."  He  looks 
around,  and  there  is  the  old  familiar  river,  and  there  are 
the  hills  that  look  just  as  they  did  when  he  last  saw 
them.  He  says,  "Thank  God  that  I  find  something 
that  is  not  changed ' ' ;  and  yet,  my  friends,  that  is  a 
superficial  observation.  The  whole  physical  globe  is 
undergoing  a  perpetual  change.  The  close  observer 
notices  how  the  coasts  of  some  continents  are  rising,  and 
how  the  shores  of  others  are  depressed.  The  close  ob- 
server sees  how  the  ocean  now  sweeps  over  vast  tracts 
that  once  were  cultivated,  and  how  others  that  were  once 
submerged  form  the  homes  of  busy  men.  The  perpetual 
mountains  crumble,  and  the  everlasting  hills  bow  as 
they  are  disintegrated  by  frost  and  fire,  by  the  action  of 
the  wasting  storms  and  wearing  streams.  'J'herefore, 
we  should  not  be  surprised  at  the  statement  made  in  the 
text:  *'Thou,  Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  earth,  and  the  heavens  are  the  works 
of  thy  hands.  They  shall  perish,  but  thou  remaincsl ; 
yea,  all  of  them  shall  wax  old  as  doth  a  garment; 
as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  fold  them  up  and  they  shall 
be  changed,  but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall 
not  fail." 
3 


34  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

Therefore,  when  we  come  to  inquire  into  the  moral 
uses  of  vicissitude,  and  what  is  the  grand  purpose  for 
which  God  has  placed  us  in  a  world  of  such  mutation, 
we  can  give  briefly,  in  closing,  this  answer:  it  is  that 
we  may  fix  our  thoughts  and  hopes  upon  something 
that  is  both  permanent  and  satisfying. 

There  are  other  uses  at  which  we  may  glance,  but  this 
should  arrest  our  supreme  regard. 

In  the  fifty-fifth  Psalm  there  is  a  most  pathetic  pic- 
ture. Old  King  David,  wearied  with  the  cares  of  ofi&ce, 
is  sitting  on  the  flat  roof  of  his  house  one  evening.  He 
has  taken  ofi"  his  crown.  It  is  too  heavy,  and  he  has 
laid  it  down  upon  the  parapet.  He  has  laid  his  sceptre 
at  his  feet,  and  sits  there  and  sighs :  '  *  Would  I  were  a 
shepherd  lad  again.  O,  that  the  innocence  and  sweet- 
ness of  my  early  life  might  come  back  to  replace  the 
pomp  and  the  burdensome  cares  of  empire."  Then  he 
looked  up  and  saw  a  little  flock  of  doves  flitting  across 
the  sky,  their  soft  plumage  glancing  in  the  sun,  growing 
dimmer  as  they  recede,  until  they  reach  the  western 
hills,  and  he  said,  "O  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove,  for 
then  I  would  fly  away  and  be  at  rest.  O  for  rest! 
Rest!" 

Vastly  mistaken  is  the  man  who  compares  himself  to 
a  noble  oak,  striking  its  roots  deep  into  the  earth,  with 
its  great  strong  branches  shooting  upwards,  upon  which 
the  storms  of  heaven  break  when  they  strike  it.  Man 
has  no  such  permanence,  no  such  independence.  He  is 
more  like  a  vine  which  has  to  grow  upon  a  massive  wall 
or  upon  a  strong  pillar,  otherwise  it  trails  upon  the 
ground  and  perishes.  The  worst  thing  a  vine  can  do  is 
to  trail  around  another  vine.  Both  will  fall,  and,  locked 
in  fatal  embrace,  will  perish.  If  a  vine  becomes  fruit- 
ful, it  must  be  trained  to  a  pillar  oi  a  wall.     Ah,  so  it 


THE  CHANGING  WORLD,  ETC.  35 

was  with  that  great  and  yearning  heart  of  David  that 
sought  rest.  He  was  taught  to  say:  **Put  not  your 
trust  in  princes,  nor  in  the  son  of  man  in  whom  is  no 
help;  his  breath  goeth  forth,  he  returneth  to  his  earth; 
in  that  very  day  his  thoughts  perish."  "In  that  very 
day  man  returneth  to  his  earth  "  ;  the  earth  that  is  his 
because  he  came  out  of  it  and  goes  back  to  it ;  "  earth  to 
earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust. "  "In  that  very  day 
his  thoughts,"  no  matter  how  original,  how  lofty  or  how 
profound — it  may  be  thoughts  too  tender  or  too  delicately 
personal  to  be  expressed — nevertheless,  "In  that  very 
day  his  thoughts  perish." 

Again.  If  we  ask,  then,  for  the  ethics,  the  religious 
lessons  of  change,  another  answer  is  that  God  has  placed 
us  in  the  midst  of  these  perturbations  to  keep  our  life 
from  becoming  stagnant.  If  there  was  no  change  we 
would  all  become  imbecile.  I  say  if  there  was  no  change 
in  the  intellectual  world,  men  would,  by  and  by,  drivel 
into  impotence.  Change  is  necessary  to  stir  up  and 
quicken  and  freshen  life,  just  as  thunder  and  storm  are 
necessary  to  purify  the  sultry,  stifling  air.  If  it  were 
not  for  these  vicissitudes  there  would  be  no  intellectual 
and  no  spiritual  development.  Change  is  God's  bene- 
diction to  humanity.  No  man  knows  what  he  can  do 
until  he  is  put  in  a  new  situation  that  calls  forth  his 
energies.  No  man  knows  the  resources  that  slumber 
within  himself  until  the  exigency  comes  that  wakes 
them  into  efficiency.  So  God  puts  adversity  and  pros- 
perity in  the  world  to  balance  each  other  and  to  disci- 
pline and  develop  what  is  best  in  man. 

Another  reason  why  we  are  placed  in  such  a  world  of 
change  is  to  keep  us  from  presuming  on  the  future. 
You  remember  the  description  that  one  of  the  evange- 
lists gives  us  of  the  world's  fool  of  the  first  magnitude— 


36  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

the  greatest  fool  whose  biography  has  been  written — who 
said,  "  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
years,  eat,  drink  and  be  merry,"  as  if  the  soul  could  be 
nourished  by  what  grows  in  the  vineyard  and  the  field. 
The  fool  uttered  a  soliloquy,  but  there  were  two  voices. 
It  was  a  dialogue ;  another  speaker  broke  in  and  said : 
' '  This  night, ' '  not  in  some  future  year,  but  ' '  this  night, 
thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee. ' ' 

Again.  Life's  changes  teach  us  to  avoid  the  perils  of 
both  prosperity  and  adversity.  Do  you  know  the  dan- 
ger of  too  much  success,  of  a  life  of  uninterrupted  pros- 
perity? You  say,  selfishness  and  indifference  to  the 
interests  and  happiness  of  others.  It  is  all  that,  but 
another  danger  of  too  much  prosperity  is  discontent. 
You  thought  I  was  going  to  say  that  is  the  danger  of 
adversity ;  but  one  danger  of  prosperity  is  discontent. 
The  most  discontented  men  on  earth  are  those  who  roll 
in  riches  and  do  not  know  how  to  make  their  investments 
or  how  to  keep  their  accumulations.  The  most  discon- 
tented women  on  earth  are  women  living  in  a  super- 
abounding  luxury  that  enervates  and  surfeits  without 
satisfying.  In  their  discontent  they  utter  more  com- 
plaints and  murmurs  in  a  single  day  than  the  poor 
woman  who,  stitch  by  stitch,  makes  her  livelihood  in 
the  garret  where  she  toils  for  her  daily  crust. 

The  danger  of  adversity  is  doubt — doubt  of  God's  pro- 
vidence, and  finally  a  denial  that  there  is  any  providence — 
until  at  last  the  person  says :  "I  am  no  worse  than 
other  people,  but  God  seems  to  think  so.  He  afflicts 
me,  and  I  do  not  have  anything  but  trouble.  I  doubt 
whether  there  is  any  providence  at  all."  And  so  blank 
denial  of  a  fundamental  truth  is  the  result  of  too  much 
adversity. 

On  the  otner  hand,  while  prosperity  has  its  dangers. 


THE  CHANGING  WORLD,  ETC.  37 

it  Opens  the  way  for  the  cultivation  of  graces  which 
otherwise  would  not  exist.  If  there  were  no  prosperity, 
where  would  be  room  or  possibility  for  humility  and  for 
self-denial  ?  The  only  man  who  can  deny  himself  is  the 
prosperous  man;  the  only  one  who  ever  really  denies 
himself  is  the  man  of  abundance.  The  poor  man  is  all 
the  while  compelled  to  live  a  life  of  self-denial ;  but  the 
man  of  abundance  can  voluntarily  choose  such  a  life,  and 
so  cultivate  a  grace  that  would  otherwise  be  impossible. 
Where  there  is  no  trial  there  can  be  no  trust.  Where 
there  is  no  bereavement  there  can  be  no  resignation. 
Where  there  is  no  disappointment  there  can  be  no  hope, 
for  how  can  one  hope  for  what  he  already  possesses? 
How  can  the  graces  of  love,  joy,  peace  and  holy  aspira- 
tion grow  if  they  are  never  exercised  ?  The  vicissitudes 
of  life  are  the  divinely  ordained  instrumentalities  by 
which  God  disciplines  men  and  develops  their  truest  and 
noblest  Christian  manhood. 

Lastly.  Experience  and  revelation  unite  in  teaching 
that  the  soul  must  have  some  foundation  on  which  to 
build  and  rest  secure,  which  is  not  subject  to  mutation ; 
something  as  enduring  as  its  own  immortality,  and  as 
satisfying  as  its  capacities  for  happiness.  But  this  it 
cannot  find  either  in  the  material  or  intellectual  creations 
of  men — not  in  the  noblest  or  most  enduring  of  them  ;  it 
cannot  find  it  in  human  love,  however  pure  and  con- 
stant ;  it  cannot  find  it  in  wealth  or  fame  or  power ;  it 
cannot  find  it  in  nature,  whose  well-ordered  harmonies 
seem  sweet  and  unvarying  as  the  song  of  the  morning 
stars. 

Where,  then,  is  the  foundation  on  which  the  deathless 
soul  may  erect  its  immortal  hopes  and  find  its  eternal 
rest  and  peace  and  blessedness  ?  The  answer  comes,  all 
else   must   change   and    pass   away,    "but    thou    re- 


38  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

MAINEST."  God  is  the  soul's  infinite  necessity,  the 
soul's  eternal  satisfaction.  He  alone  is  immutable.  He 
cannot  be  changed  by  anything  that  is  without,  for  there 
is  nothing  external  to  himself  which  he  did  not  create. 
Creatures  possess  no  powers  which  he  did  not  confer  on 
them,  and  he  never  formed  anything  that  was  capable  of 
harming  himself.  Therefore,  he  can  be  changed  by 
nothing  from  without.  Nor  from  anything  within.  Be- 
ing self-existent,  he  is  dependent  upon  none  for  his  life. 
Being  perfectly  happy,  he  can  never  wish  to  be  anything 
but  what  he  is.  Being  omnipotent,  he  has  power  to  be 
what  he  wishes  to  be ;  and  being  eternal,  he  can  be  what 
he  wishes  to  be  forever.  A  being  infinitely  blessed  can 
desire  no  change,  for  were  there  any  height  of  happiness 
or  glory  above  him  he  would  not  be  infinite. 

Through  the  measureless  eternity  he  will  sit  upon  his 
throne  in  the  unimpaired  greatness  of  his  supremacy. 
So  perfect  is  he  that  the  flight  of  unnumbered  ages  will 
not  behold  the  kindling  of  another  beam  in  his  immeas- 
urable glory,  nor  will  the  flight  of  unnumbered  ages 
behold  amid  these  glories  one  ray,  now  beaming, 
quenched. 

The  greatest  change  ever  made  in  a  human  life  is 
sometimes  caused  by  a  single  bereavement,  and  yet  the 
sorest  bereavement  may  be  so  sanctified  as  to  become  the 
greatest  benediction.  There  are  losses  which  leave  the 
soul  so  desolate,  so  emptied  of  every  earthly  joy,  that  it 
cries  out  after  (iod  with  an  intense  and  impassioned 
longing  never  felt  before.  Were  there  no  God  to  help, 
its  desolation  would  deepen  into  despair. 

One  way,  then,  by  which  the  soul  learns  to  know  God 
is  through  its  own  great  necessities  which  he  alone  can 
satisfy.  Were  we  never  in  trouble  we  never  could  know 
what  a  loving  Father  he  is.     Did  we  shed  no  bitter  tears 


THE  CHANGING  WORLD,  ETC.  39 

we  never  could  know  how  soft  the  hand  that  wipes  them 
away.  If  bereavement  never  caused  our  hearts  to  bleed, 
we  could  never  know  how  gentle  the  hand  is  that  binds 
them  up.  Our  sorrows  teach  us  that  he  can  comfort 
with  more  than  a  mother's  tenderness.  When  we  taste 
the  wormwood  and  the  gall,  and  thus  suffer  the  experi- 
ence of  the  bitterness  of  sin,  then  we  can  sing, 

"Sweet  the  moments,  rich  in  blessing, 
Which  before  the  cross  I  spend  "  ; 

or,  changing  the  measure,  as  we  emerge  from  the  dark- 
ness, we  can  prolong  the  song  in  strains  like  these : 

"The  opening  heavens  around  me  shine 
With  beams  of  sacred  bliss, 
When  Jesus  shows  his  heart  is  mine, 
And  whispers,  I  am  his." 

Then  the  soul's  wish  for  wings  like  a  dove's  is  satis- 
fied. It  fluttered  a  moment  against  the  window,  and 
then  a  friendly  hand  reached  forth  and  took  it  into  the 
gospel  ark,  there  safely  to  abide  and  sweetly  to  rest  with 
the  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  preparatory  to  the  time 
when  a  nobler  rest  shall  be  enjoyed  in  the  place  where 
the  discipline  of  vicissitude  will  be  needed  and  known  no 
more,  and  where  the  only  change  will  be  from  one  de- 
gree of  glory  to  another  as  the  soul  advances  in  endless 
conformity  to  the  divine  image  of  purity  and  blessedness 
in  the  eternal  kingdom  of  the  Father. 

' '  I  shall  behold  thy  face  in  righteousness ;  I  shall  be 
satisfied  with  thy  likeness." 

"O  long-expected  day,  begin." 


^^ONE  JESUS." 


BY  J.  HENRY  SMITH,  D.  D. 
Pastor  of  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Greensboro,  N.  C. 


"Against  whom  when  the  accusers  stood  up,  they  brought 
none  accusation  of  such  things  as  I  supposed :  but  had  certain 
questions  against  him  of  their  owm  superstition,  and  of  one  Jesus, 
which  was  dead,  whom  Paul  affirmed  to  be  alive." — Acts  xxv. 
i8,  19. 

THE  text  occurs  in  that  part  of  the  Acts  where  St. 
Luke  is  recording  the  statement  which  the  Roman 
governor,  Festus,  made  of  Paul's  case  to  the  Jew- 
ish prince,  Agrippa.  Agrippa  and  Bernice,  his  sister, 
had  come  to  Caesarea,  where  the  Roman  governor  re- 
sided, to  salute  Festus,  the  recently  appointed  successor 
to  Felix.  This  Agrippa  was  the  son  of  the  Herod  whose 
miserable  death  is  recorded  in  the  twelfth  chapter.  He 
was  a  young  man  of  only  sixteen  years  of  age  at  the 
time  of  his  father's  death,  and  was  living,  or  going  to 
school,  as  we  would  say,  in  the  city  of  Rome,  and  enjoy- 
ing there  the  friendship  and  patronage  of  the  emperor 
Claudius,  who  was  a  sort  of  guardian  of  the  young  Jew- 
ish prince.  In  the  course  of  the  next  ten  or  fifteen 
years,  by  successive  grants  from  the  Emperor  Claudius 
and  afterwards  from  Nero,  Agrippa  had  obtained  a  large 
portion  of  his  father's  kingdom,  though  not  the  province 
of  Judea.  He  was  familiar  with  the  Jewish  laws  from 
his  youth,  and  had  adopted  the  tenets  of  the  Pharisaic 
sect.  Josephus  says,  "He  was  a  zealous  Jew,  at  least 
externally,  but  not  very  popular  on  account  of  his 
heathen  education  and  residence  in  Rome,  and  his  equi- 

40 


''ONE  JESUS."  41 

vocal  and  somewhat  neutral  position  between  Jews  and 
Gentiles." 

At  the  time  of  Agrippa's  visit  to  Cesarea,  sixteen 
years  had  passed  away  since  his  father's  awful  death 
there,  and  he  was  now  thirty-two  years  of  age.  Festus, 
the  new  Roman  governor,  took  advantage  of  this  visit  of 
Agrippa  to  consult  him  as  one  Hkely  to  feel  more  inter- 
est, and  to  be  much  better  informed  than  himself  on  the 
points  in  question  in  the  case  of  the  man  left  in  bonds 
by  Felix.  He  recited,  therefore,  to  Agrippa  what  had 
taken  place,  and  remarked  that  nothing  of  the  kind  that 
he  had  been  led  to  expect  had  appeared  at  the  trial,  that 
is,  they  brought  no  charge  of  legal  or  moral  wrong  as 
distinguished  from  mere  error  of  opinion,  but,  said  Fes- 
tus, they  differ  with  the  prisoner  on  certain  questions  of 
Jewish  theology  or  worship,  and  especially  about  one 
Jesus,  now  dead,  whom  Paul,  the  prisoner,  however, 
affirms  to  be  alive. 

These  two  words  of  Festus,  "one  Jesus,"  I  select  as 
the  text,  or  rather  as  suggesting  the  theme  of  my  sermon. 

As  it  regards  this  Roman  official,  I  infer  from  the 
language  of  Jewish  and  other  historians,  that  Festus  was 
an  upright  as  well  as  an  active  magistrate,  and  in  perso- 
nal character  he  was  a  very  much  better  man  than  his 
predecessor,  Felix.  But  we  have  here  to  do  with  his 
language  respecting  Jesus  Christ.  *  *  One  Jesus. ' '  How 
strangely  now  sound  these  words  of  Festus  as  we  read 
or  repeat  them  in  the  light  of  this  age  and  in  this  period 
of  the  world  and  of  the  Christian  church!  "Certain 
questions  of  one  Jesus. ' ' 

Festus,  probably,  was  unable  to  understand  why  a 
difference  of  opinion  about  this  Jew,  Jesus,  dead  or 
alive,  could  be  so  important  and  so  enlist  their  feelings. 
But  this  much  is  apparent  and  indisputable,  that  though 


42  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

I'V'stus  did  not  see  from  his  Roman  and  heathen  stand- 
point why  snch  a  question  or  such  a  difference  of  opinion 
between  Paul  and  the  Jewish  elders  and  priests  should 
be  of  such  importance,  yet  both  Paul  and  the  Jews  did 
manifestly  so  regard  it.  Festus  saw  clearly  that  the 
whole  exciting  controversy  and  the  main  topics  of  con- 
troversy were  questions  about  "one  Jesus" — who  he 
was  and  what  had  become  of  him.  This  question,  which 
both  Paul  and  the  Jews  considered  a  question  of  vast  and 
vital  importance,  Festus,  just  because  he  was  an  unen- 
lightened heathen,  thought  very  trivial  and  insignifi- 
cant. To  him  it  was  passing  strange,  utterly  unaccount- 
able, that  Paul,  an  eminent  and  educated  Jew,  and  a 
Roman  citizen,  too,  by  birth,  should  be  willing  to  risk 
ever>'thing  and  life  itself  to  maintain  his  views  of  Jesus, 
and  that  the  Jews  of  the  highest  position  in  church  and 
state  be  equally  ready  and  anxious  to  assassinate  him 
because  of  these  opinions  and  his  conduct  in  avowing 
and  maintaining  them.  But  the  Roman  and  heathen 
magistrate  was  ignorant  and  mistaken.  Neither  Paul 
nor  the  Jewish  officials  exaggerated  or  over-estimated  the 
importance  and  far-reaching  influence  of  these  questions. 
It  is  utterly  impossible  to  exaggerate  their  importance. 
The  question  about  this  Jesus  is  a  great  one — important 
now  as  ever — the  greatest  ever  discussed  on  earth  by 
mortal  man.  And  the  reason  why  it  is  so  great  a  ques- 
tion is  that  the  person  about  whom  the  question  is  raised 
is  great,  and  the  issue  or  effect  of  this  question  upon 
one's  eternal  destiny  is  great — great  beyond  the  power 
of  human  thought  or  language  adequately  to  conceive 
or  to  express. 

It  is  worthy  of  special  note  that  for  ages  upon  ages 
this  question  has  grown  in  interest  and  felt  importance 
as  the  years  have  rolled  by.      In  the  present  age  the  un- 


"ONE  JESUS."  43 

believing  mind  has  been  looking  upon  and  studying  this 
very  question,  and  with  nothing  at  all  of  the  careless  in- 
difference that  characterized  these  Roman  officials.  This 
question  now  agitates  the  mind  of  the  civilized  world 
more  than  any  other. 

It  is  strange  and  interesting,  too,  to  look  through  the 
book  of  Acts  and  see  how  carelessly,  if  not  contemptu- 
ously, all  these  men,  Roman  officials  of  high  position 
and  influence,  wave  away,  as  beneath  their  notice,  so 
trifling  a  matter  as  these  questions  in  dispute  between 
Paul  and  his  fellow-religionists  as  to  this  Jesus  whenever 
the  subject  is  brought  before  them.  How  differently  the 
matter  looked  to  a  spectator  in  the  middle  or  latter  half 
of  the  first  century  and  in  the  middle  or  latter  half  of  the 
present  nineteenth  century  !  Yes,  at  that  day  and,  alas, 
often  still,  worldly  politicians,  statesmen,  so-called,  high 
in  office,  clothed  with  great  pomp  and  power,  think  or 
speak  and  write  very  lightly  of  events  into  which  angels 
desire  to  look — events  which  fill  heaven  with  rapture, 
and  which  will  be  the  theme  of  grateful  and  adoring 
praises  from  multitudes  which  no  man  can  number  for- 
ever and  forever.  Well,  just  as  with  the  rest,  so  it  was 
with  Festus.  Says  he  to  Agrippa,  "When  this  man's 
accusers  stood  up,  they  brought  no  accusation  of  such 
things  as  I  supposed :  but  had  certain  questions  against 
him  about  their  own  Jewish  religion  and  worship,  and 
about  one  Jesus. ' '  And  now  I  repeat  with  all  possible 
emphasis,  is  this  question  as  to  who  and  what  Jesus  is 
a  small  or  trivial  matter?  Let  us  consider  it  as  the  later 
Scriptures  and  human  history  illustrate  the  person  and 
work  and  dignity  of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  say,  then,  (i),  That  merely  as  a  human  pcrsonai^^e  in 
this  world's  history,  Jesus  is  great— ^r&^t  as  a  man,  great 
as  a  teacher  of  men,  great  as  a  reformer  of  morals,  reli- 


44  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

gion  and  civilization.  I  cannot,  of  course,  enlarge  upon 
this  as  I  would  wish,  for  the  three- fold  view  which  I 
merely  indicate  would  afford  rich  material  for  more  than 
an  entire  discourse. 

But  let  us  look  at  it  a  while.  I  deliberately  affirm 
that  the  life  and  teachings  of  Christ  divide  the  morals, 
the  religion,  the  sentiments  and  the  civilization  of  the 
world,  and  have  been  doing  it  ever  since  his  public  teach- 
ing in  Galilee  and  Judea.  Who  is  Jesus?  Thirty  years 
he  spent  in  Nazareth,  a  poor  village  not  once  mentioned 
in  the  Old  I'estament  or  in  Josephus.  The  New  Testa- 
ment makes  no  secret  of  the  place  which  Jesus  occupied 
in  the  social  scale.  He  was  of  humble  birth  and  connec- 
tions, working  at  the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  in  a  private 
and  obscure  life.  For  three  years  he  ministered  and 
taught  publicly  in  Jerusalem,  but  chiefly  in  the  rural 
settlements  and  in  several  of  the  obscurer  towns  and  vil- 
lages of  Galilee,  [and  then  he  suffered  death  by  cruci- 
fixion. And  yet  his  thoughts  and  words  have  been  the 
inspiration  and  incentive  that  has  educated  and  devel- 
oped men  and  nations,  and  produced  whatever  of  real 
culture  and  civilization  the  past  ages  and  the  present 
possess  and  enjoy,  enkindling  hopes  of  still  better  in 
the  w^der  spread  and  heartier  reception  and  influence  of 
his  teachings.  As  a  reformer  of  faith,  of  morals,  of  re- 
ligion, of  life,  of  men,  of  society  and  of  nations,  what 
name  and  character  has  been  and  is  to-day  so  influential 
and  mighty  as  the  name  of  Jesus  ?  He  left  behind  him 
a  few  spoken  words ;  he  never  wrote  a  line.  And  if  all 
the  repetitions,  or  records  of  the  same  events  and  dis- 
courses, in  the  four  Gospels  were  omitted,  the  entire  and 
continuous  record  that  would  remain  would  be  but  a  few 
pages.  And  while  the  heroes,  statesmen,  poets  and 
philosophers  of  Athens  or  of  Rome,   her  emperors  and 


*'ONE  JESUS."  45 

soldiers,  or  this  man  Festus,  his  predecessors  and  succes- 
sors are  dead — yes,  doubly  dead  and  gone,  so  far  as  pre- 
sent and  living  power  and  influence  and  love  and  venera- 
tion are  concerned,  Jesus  Christ  is  to-day  exalted  in  the 
very  loftiest  niche  of  admiration  and  veneration  by  mil- 
lions upon  millions  to  whom  he  is  dearer  than  life.  Of 
all  lives  ever  Hved,  the  most  influential  confessedly  as  a 
man,  as  a  teacher,  as  a  reformer,  was  the  life  of  this 
Jesus.  Such  is  the  testimony  of  the  centuries.  There 
is  absolutely  nothing  like  it  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
world.     The  uninspired  pages  of  history  attest  it. 

(2),  But  further,  this  Jesus  is  great  because  he  is  the 
cenbal  subject  of  the  entire  Bible.  The  Jewish  nation,  its 
purpose,  its  history,  its  guidance  and  its  Bible,  was  to 
prepare  the  way  of  "one  Jesus."  The  whole  of  it — the 
nation's  history  and  the  nation's  Bible — like  John  the 
Baptist,  was  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  a  wilderness 
world,  ' '  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord !  ' '  His  person, 
his  character,  his  mission,  his  life  and  death,  is  the 
theme  that  explains  all.  Narrative,  history,  genealogy, 
prophecy,  sacrifices,  ablutions,  parables,  miracles — all 
point  to  and  illustrate  the  name  and  work  of  Jesus. 
The  light  of  truth  and  mercy  and  hope,  the  Hght  of  grace 
and  salvation,  the  light  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  light 
of  the  New  Testament,  the  light  of  all  their  teachings  to 
guide,  to  console,  to  cheer,  to  sanctify  and  to  save,  the 
light  of  all  hope  for  man's  future  here  and  forever,  all 
comes  from  this  Jesus,  well  called  in  prophecy  and  by 
himself,  "the  Light  of  the  world,"  "the  Sun  of  righte- 
ousness." The  natural  sunlight  and  color,  the  varie- 
gated and  radiant  beauty  that  glows  all  over  the  face  of 
the  earth,  that  glitters  from  the  rippling  water,  that 
paints  the  leaves  and  foliage  and  flowers  of  spring-time 
and    summer,    that    sparkles    on    the    dew   drops,    that 


46  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

colors  the  evening  sky  with  entrancing  beauty  and 
splendor,  is  not  more  dependent  upon  the  sun  in  the 
heavens  than  is  the  light  and  beauty  and  blessedness 
of  the  Bible,  its  histories,  teachings  and  prophecies  de- 
pendent upon  Jesus.  The  prime,  main  object  of  the 
Scriptures  is  to  describe  and  set  forth  the  Mediator,  Jesus 
Christ,  and  his  work  and  kingdom  of  grace  and  glory 
here  and  hereafter.  "The  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the 
spirit  of  prophecy;  "  that  is,  the  grand  end  and  scope  of 
all  revelation  is  to  bear  witness  concerning  "one  Jesus." 
(3),  But  further,  this  Jesus  is  great  because  of  his 
great,  his  transcendent  work  of  atonement  and  redemption. 
By  the  atonement  we  mean  Christ's  satisfying  divine 
justice  by  his  suffering  and  death  in  the  place  of  sinners. 
The  direct  and  central  design  and  effect  of  Christ's  death 
was  to  propitiate  the  principle  of  justice  in  the  divine 
nature.  He  has  satisfied  all  the  demands  of  law  upon 
which  the  favor  and  fellowship  of  God  were  suspended. 
This  he  did  by  his  perfect  obedience  and  sacrifice  of  him- 
self which  he  offered  up  unto  God.  How  clearly  is  this 
stated  and  reiterated  by  St.  Paul  and  by  all  the  New 
Testament  writers.  * '  Being  justified  freely  by  his  grace, 
through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  whom 
God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in 
his  blood,  to  declare  his  righteousness  for  the  remission 
of  sins  ;  that  he  (God)  might  be  just  and  the  justifier  of 
him  that  believeth  in  Jesus."  Contemplate  for  a  while 
the  priesthood  of  Christ — himself  «^  priest  offering  himself 
as  a  sacrifice  to  satisfy  divine  justice  and  reconcile  us  to 
God.  It  is  the  grandest  thought  and  the  most  vital  and 
precious  truth  of  revealed  religion  !  It  is,  without  doubt, 
the  sublimest  event  in  the  annals  of  time  or  the  records 
of  eternity.  The  death  of  Jesus  Christ  was  peculiar. 
It  was  not  a  providential  event  to  which  he  was  sub- 


ONE  JESUS. 


47 


jected  as  you  or  I  are  subjected.  It  was  a  priestly  act 
which  he  achieved.  He  died  as  a  triumphant  agent  or 
actor;  he  prevailed  against  death  to  live  until  he  himself 
said,  "It  is  finished,"  and  then  bowed  his  head  in  as- 
sent and  died — died  not  merely  voluntarily,  but  by  posi- 
tive priestly  action  giving  himself  to  God.  The  cross 
is  itself  and  justly  styled  a  "chariot  of  triumph." 

Looked  at  from  another  point  of  view,  what  a  spirit  of 
sublime  devotion  to  God  and  of  self-sacrifice  for  man 
does  the  cross  and  death  of  Jesus  display  !  The  position 
of  Jesus  was  unparalleled,  exceptional  and  transcen- 
dently  sublime.  Standing  before  the  altar,  he  confesses 
the  guilt  of  his  brethren,  glorifies  the  divine  justice, 
honors  and  magnifies  the  law  of  God  (the  very  law  that 
dooms  them  to  woe  and  requires  him  to  suffer),  as- 
sumes the  sinner's  place,  acknowledges  the  demands  of 
truth  and  righteousness,  adores  the  divine  character  and 
lays  down  his  life — body  and  soul — as  a  ransom  and 
atonement  for  theirs  upon  the  altar;  freely  and  volun- 
tarily "does  and  suffers  all  this,  rather  than  that  guilty 
and  miserable  man  should  perish,  or  that  the  divine 
government  should  be  insulted  with  impunity." 

Festus  never  heard,  never  uttered  a  name  so  signifi- 
cant, so  rich,  so  suggestive  of  goodness  and  greatness, 
as  the  name  of  '  *  07ie  Jesus. ' '  Why,  at  the  time  he  care- 
lessly repeated  this  name,  and  for  ages  upon  ages  since, 
and  in  all  the  ages  forever  to  come, 

'  Floods  of  everlasting  light 

Freely  flash  before  him ; 
Myriads,  with  supreme  delight, 

Instantly  adore  him  ; 
Angelic  trumps  resound  his  fame, 

Lutes  of  lucid  gold  proclaim 
All  the  music  of  his  name  ; 

Heaven  echoing  the  theme. 


48  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

Sweetest  sound  in  seraph's  song, 
Sweetest  note  on  mortal's  tongue, 
Sweetest  carol  ever  sung, 
Jesus, — Jesus, — Jesus!  " 

(4),  But,  again,  this  Jesus  is  great  in  his  person  and 
nature  as  the  inca7  7iate  So7i  of  God.  For  this  Jesus  was 
Immanuel,  God  incarnate,  God  with  us.  St.  John  terms 
him  as  he  announces  him  as  the  subject  of  his  Gospel, 
"The  Word  of  God" — God's  utterance  to  man.  God 
speaks  to  the  world  through  Jesus  over  and  above  what 
he  speaks  in  nature.  I  readily  admit  and  maintain  that 
God  speaks  in  nature.  In  its  scenery,  processes,  pro- 
ductions ;  in  its  very  silence  God  speaks  to  his  rational 
offspring,  and  speaks  intelligently  and  impressively. 
God  speaks  in  providence,  in  its  operations,  ordinary  and 
extraordinary — in  its  history  and  its  laws.  God  speaks 
in  the  very  nature  and  constitution  of  man  ;  in  the  pro- 
ducts of  his  intellect,  his  imagination  and  his  tastes,  in 
the  achievements  of  science  and  art,  in  the  creations  of 
human  genius,  and  in  all  the  utterances  of  human  wis- 
dom and  piety,  God  speaks.  But  once,  only  once,  in  all 
time,  the  Godhead  tabernacled  in  flesh. 

' '  One  night  while  lowly  shepherd  swains 
Their  fleecy  charge  attended, 
A  light  burst  o'er  Judea's  plains 
Unutterably  splendid. 

'  Far  in  the  dusky  Orient 

A  star,  unknown  in  story, 
Arose  to  flood  the  firmament 
With  more  than  morning  glory. 

"For  heaven  drew  nearer  earth  that  night — 
Flung  wide  its  pearly  portals- 
Sent  forth  from  all  its  realms  of  light 
Its  radiant  immortals. 


**  ONE  JESUS."  ^g 

"They  hovered  in  the  golden  air, 
Their  golden  censers  swinging, 
And  woke  the  drowsy  shepherds  there 
With  their  seraphic  singing." 

The  word  was  made  flesh,  dwelt  in  our  nature,  and 
from  within  this  marvellous  veil  gave  forth  its  holy  and 
grand  announcements.  In  the  person  of  Jesus  Cxod 
speaks ;  through  his  life  and  in  his  life  as  he  speaks 
nowhere  else.  The  first,  the  lowest,  but  yet  also  the 
last  and  highest  duty  of  the  world  is  to  listen  and  be- 
lieve. The  command  to  all  ages  and  to  all  men  is  to 
listen  and  believe.  That  command  was  given  of  old 
in  Palestine  from  the  open  sky  beneath  which  * '  one 
Jesus"  was  standing,  and  the  words  are  echoing  to- 
day, "This  is  my  beloved  Son;  hear  ye  him."  And 
adds  St.  Peter  in  the  second  recorded  sermon  in  the 
Acts  :  ' '  Hear  him  in  all  things  whatsoever  he  shall 
say  unto  you,  for  every  soul  that  will  not  hear  him 
shall  be  destroyed." 

(5),  But  further,  this  Jesus,  of  whom  the  heathen 
Festus  spoke  so  carelessly,  is  great  because  at  thai  very 
moment  he  was  a?id  is  7ioiv  ' '  Head  over  all  things  for 
his  body  the  church.''  He  was  at  that  moment  in 
which  Festus  uttered  the  flippant  words,  "one  Jesus," 
at  the  right  hand  of  God  the  Father  Almighty,  "angels 
and  authorities  and  powers  being  made  subject  unto 
him" — aye,  more,  "Far  above  all  principahty  and 
power  and  might  and  dominion,  and  every  name  that 
is  named,  not  only  in  this  world  but  also  in  that  which 
is  to  come."  Every  event  that  was  then  occurring,  or 
that  is  now  occurring,  great  or  small,  until  his  second 
coming,  did  occur,  is  occurring,  and  will  occur  only  by, 
with  and  under  the  consent  or  direction  or  control  of  the 
mediatorial,  providence  of  this  same  Jesus. 
3 


50  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

"Rejoice,  the  Saviour  reigns, 
The  God  of  truth  and  love  ; 
When  he  had  purged  our  stains, 
He  took  his  seat  above. 
Lift  up  the  heart,  lift  up  the  voice  ; 
Rejoice  aloud,  ye  saints,  rejoice. 

"His  kingdom  cannot  fail ; 

He  rules  o'er  earth  and  heaven. 
The  keys  of  death  and  hell 
Are  to  our  Jesus  given. 
Lift  up  the  heart,  lift  up  the  voice ; 
Rejoice  aloud,  ye  saints,  rejoice." 

(6),  But  further,  this  Jesus  about  whom  this  Roman 
ofl5cial  spoke  so  slightingly,  if  not  contemptuously,  is 
great  because  he  is  to  be  the  sicpreme  mid  filial  judge  and 
awarder  of  the  everlasting  destinies  of  men  aiid  angels. 
Festus  himself,  and  every  human  being  is  to  stand 
at  the  judgment  seat  of  one  Jesus  and  receive  from 
his  lips  his  everlasting  and  irrevocable  doom.  "The 
Father  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judg- 
ment unto  the  Son,  that  all  men  should  honor  the  Son, 
even  as  they  honor  the  Father. "  "  He  hath  appointed 
a  day  in  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness 
by  that  man  whom  he  hath  ordained,  whereof  he  hath 
given  assurance  (/.  c.,  indubitable  evidence)  unto  all 
men  by  having  raised  him  from  the  dead."  Yes,  ni}^ 
hearers,  a  day  of  searching  and  righteous  investigation 
and  judgment  is  coming,  when  each  and  all  must  stand 
before  an  omniscient  and  almighty  judge,  "one  Jesus," 
who  will  "render  to  all  according  to  their  works."  Oh! 
how  terribly  the  tables  will  be  turned,  as 

"  On  that  day,  that  dreadful  day 
When  man  to  judgment  wakes  from  clay," 

Festus  himself  will  recognize  upon  the  throne  in  glori- 
ous and  judicial  majesty,  that  same  Jesus,  about  whom, 


"ONE  JESUS."  51 

thirty  years  after  his  resurrection,  the  Jews  and  St.  Paul, 
in  his  presence  and  before  his  Roman  judgment  seat,  had 
disputed.  Yes,  he  had  heard  them  dispute  the  question 
(which  he  thought  trivial  and  superstitious),  whether 
one  Jesus  was  dead  or  alive ;  and  there  he  beholds  him 
on  the  throne,  as  supreme  judge,  assigning  the  destinies 
of  the  race. 

(7),  But  further  and  lastly:  this  Jesus  is  great  be- 
cause suck  is  his  co7mectio7i  with  the  laws  and  govcjn- 
ment  and  thro?ie  of  God,  that  every  human  being  i7i  the 
world  {Festus,  Agrippa,  Bertiice,  and  you  ayid  1)  must, 
of  7iecessity,  sustain  a  personal  relatio7i  to  Imn.  We  must 
be  found  '  *  z>^  hiju  ' '  partaking  of  his  redemption  and 
salvation,  or  **out  of  (and  apart  from)  him,"  and  under 
the  bondage  and  curse  of  sin,  and  hopelessly  and  forever 
lost.  No  question  is  more  personal,  individual,  impor- 
tant and  momentous  than  the  question,  "What  think 
ye  of  Christ  ?  ' ' 

This  matter  cannot  be  avoided  or  evaded.  We  must 
consider  and  settle  it.  It  is  like  the  question  which 
Pilate,  in  his  confusion,  embarrassment  and  difficulty 
(how  to  dispose  of  Jesus),  asked  the  Jews  :  "What  shall 
I  do  with  Jesus?"  Yes,  this  awful  and  mighty  ques- 
tion, with  all  its  issues  for  eternal  life  or  for  eternal 
death,  each  of  us  has  to  settle.  How  wnll  you  decide 
it?  Sooner  or  later,  and  often  frequently,  to  every 
one  comes  the  question  which  Pilate  asked  of  the  Jews, 
"What,  then,  shall  I  do  with  Jesus  who  is  called  the 
Christ?"  If  a  man  cares  nothing  for  the  principles  of 
science  or  art,  or  takes  no  interest  in  politics,  he  sim- 
ply lets  the  subject  alone.  But  this  is  a  matter  and  a 
question  which  you  cannot  let  alone,  and  which  will  not 
let  you  alone.  It  will  be  answered ;  it  must  be  an- 
swered, and  it  can  be  answered  but  in  one  of  two  ways. 


52  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

And  no  man  can  settle  the  matter  for  you.  Each  .soul 
must  make  its  own  reply.  Careless,  indifferent  hearer, 
do  you  think  to  evade  replying  to  this  all-important 
question  while,  and  as  long  as,  you  live?  I  tell  you, 
if  you  pass  your  life  thus,  you  have  already  answered  it 
unconsciously  to  yourself,  it  may  be,  but  it  has  had  your 
reply  in  the  rejection  of  him. 

But  when  at  the  judgment  you  stand  before  him,  the 
question  then  will  not  be,  "What  shall  I  do  with 
Jesus  ? ' '  The  one  thought  will  be  ' '  Oh  '  what  will  he 
do  with  me  ?  " 


"The  Spirit   and 
heareth  say,   Come. 

whosoevt-'-  v^-'i'    'fi  i 

TION  XX  .^ 


ih.      ;    -Iv;  .^t  him  that 

And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come.     And 

■Tri   \-.Wf    '.hi'   \-jr\tt  r   r,f    Iif.'    ^■>;A\r  "   ~  U  r\  r.i  a. 


NEAR  the  commencement  of  his  public  ministry,  our 
I^ord  preached  the  gospel  iti  the  word.^  ' '  '  ^o 
loved  trie  world  that  he  gave  his  on*  cii 

Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish 
but  have  everlasting  life."  (John  iii.  i6.)  Many  years 
afterwards,  when  his  atur.iug  socrifice  of  himself  had 
been  accomplished  upon  Calvary,  and  God's  acceptance  of 
that  sacrifice  made  known  by  his  resurrection  from  the 
dead — w^hen  he  was  alx>ut  X'^  close  his  written  revelation 
to  his  church,  intends; 
**the  only  infallible  ruk.  - 
that  gospel  in  the  words  of  t . 
for  in  both  of  these  pa> 
p'-eacher — John  simply 
i.  On  both  occA^Tr- 

OF  SALVATION,  FUL 

On  the  first,  he 
everlasting    ]iU-   Tv-.r   »ti: 
world  as  its  io- 
which  God  lov..       ..^ 
he  regards  with  pity  nr, 
he  cannot  ' 


to  her  ever  afte 
'  "   he  agni'^    ' 
r  sav,  h 


iib  teu> 


54  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

mercies  are  over  all  his  works.'  (Psalm  cxlv.  9.) 
Christ  is  (iod's  gracious  gift  to  the  whole  world." — 
Rylc.  And  this  gracious  gift,  our  Lord  assures  us,  was 
made  that  ' '  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

The  second  occasion  was  very  different  from  the  first, 
but  the  offer  of  salvation  made  is,  if  possible,  more  full 
and  free  than  in  the  first.  To  understand  its  language, 
we  must  remember  that  it  was  spoken  after  the  church 
had  entered  fully  upon  the  discharge  of  her  commission, 
' '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature"  (Mark  xvi.  15),  and  her  labors  had  been 
crowned  with  abundant  success  through  the  power  of 
the  Spirit  working  in  and  with  her,  he  who  claimed 
for  himself  the  title,  "Jesus  .  .  .  the  root  and  offspring 
of  David,  and  the  bright  and  morning  star"  (Rev.  xxii. 
16),  appeared  to  the  aged  John,  and  in  the  words  of  the 
text  gives  expression  to  his  infinite  satisfaction  in  the 
work  which  was  being  done. 

* '  The  Spirit  ajid  the  bride  say,  Come. "  "  The  Spirit ' ' 
here  spoken  of  is  undoubtedly  * '  the  spirit  of  truth  ' '  who 
was  to  come  in  Christ's  stead  and  "abide  with  the 
church  forever"  (John  xiv.  16),  and  whose  coming  and 
power  was  manifested  by  the  wondrous  work  wrought 
in  Jerusalem  on  the  first  Christian  pentecost ;  and  ' '  the 
bride,"  the  church  herself  (see  Rev.  xxi.  2,  9)  through 
her  apostles,  and  evangelists,  and  pastors,  and  teachers 
(Eph.  iv.  11),  given  her  for  this  very  ministry. 

*  ^A7id  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come. ' '  When  Stephen, 
the  first  Christian  martyr,  was  stoned,  we  are  told,  "At 
that  time  there  was  a  great  persecution  against  the 
church  which  was  at  Jerusalem,  and  they  were  all  scat- 
tered abroad  throughout  the  regions  of  Judea  and  Sama- 
ria,  except    the    apostles,     .     .     .    and    they   that  were 


THE  GOSPEL  CALL.  55 

scattered  abroad  went  everywhere  preaching  the  word." 
(Acts  viii.  1-4.)  These  were  not  regularly  ordained 
ministers  of  the  gospel,  but,  in  the  language  of  our  day, 
"private  members  of  the  church,"  with  hearts  filled 
with  the  love  of  Christ  and  the  love  of  souls,  who,  driven 
by  persecution  into  places  where  the  gospel  was  un- 
known, told  the  story  of  the  cross  to  all  who  were  will- 
ing to  listen.  And  so  has  it  been  ever  since,  especially 
in  seasons  of  great  revivals  of  religion  ;  not  publicly  and 
by  her  regularly  ordained  ministry  alone,  but  privately, 
in  the  family  and  in  the  intercourse  of  daily  life,  godly 
men  and  women  have  been  led  by  the  Spirit  to  * '  preach 
the  word,"  and  here  Christ  gives  explicit  sanction  to 
this  preaching. 

^^A7id  let  him  that  is  athirst  come.'''  These  words  re- 
mind us  at  once  of  the  call  of  God  by  his  prophet :  ' '  Ho, 
every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  and  he 
that  hath  no  money;  come  ye,  buy  and  eat;  yea,  come, 
buy  wine  and  milk  without  money  and  without  price." 
(Isaiah  1.  i.)  The  man  athirst  for  the  water  of  life  is 
one  who  simply  feels  his  need  of  salvation .  There  may 
be  such,  even  in  Christian  communities,  to  whom  no 
Christian  minister  has  ever  especially  addressed  himself, 
and  to  whom  no  Christian  friend  has  ever  spoken  about 
the  great  salvation,  who,  by  the  Spirit  "who  worketh, 
when  and  where  and  how  he  pleaseth,"  has  had  awak- 
ened within  him  a  desire  to  make  all  right  between  Cod 
and  his  soul.  To  him,  Christ  himself  here  speaks  the 
word  of  invitation  :  * '  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come. 
And  then,  that  no  man  can  possibly  think  himself  for- 
gotten or  excluded  from  the  invitation,  he  closes  the 
gospel  call  in  words  which  remind  us  at  once  of  the 
terms  in  which  he  preached  it  near  the  commencement 
of  his  public  ministry  :    ''And  ivhosoeve?  will,  let  him  take 


56  SOUTHKRN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

the  water  of  life  freely.'''  Surely,  in  no  words  which 
human  language  furnishes  could  the  offer  of  salvation  be 
made  more  full  and  free  than  in  those  which  our  Lord 
has  chosen. 

II.    The  publication  of  this  gospel,  full  and 

FREE  AS  OUR  LORD  HIMSELF  MADE  IT,  IS,  IN  THE 
VERSES  IMMEDIATELY  SUCCEEDING  THE  TEXT,  EN- 
JOINED UPON  THE  CHURCH  IN  TERMS  OF  AWFUL  SOL- 
EMNITY. "I  (/.  ^.,  I,  Jesus)  testify  unto  every  man 
that  heareth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book,  If 
any  man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  God  shall  add  un- 
to him  the  plagues  that  are  written  in  this  book  ;  and  if 
any  man  shall  take  away  from  the  words  of  the  book  of 
this  prophecy,  God  shall  take  away  his  part  out  of  the 
book  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy  city,  and  from  the  things 
which  are  written  in  this  book."  (Rev,  xxii.  18,  19.) 
Whether  or  not  we  understand  these  words,  as  many 
expositors  do,  as  God's  solemn  seal  attached  to  the  holy 
Scriptures,  proclaiming  the  revelation  therein  made  com- 
plete and  unalterable,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they 
cover  the  case  of  the  gospel  call,  as  contained  in  the  text, 
in  immediate  connection  with  which  they  were  spoken. 
In  the  light  shed  upon  this  matter  by  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  church  we  can  understand,  in  part,  at 
least,  the  reason  for  this  solemn  warning.  Strange  and 
improbable  as  it  might  seem  at  first  thought,  it  is  just 
on  this  point — the  freedom  and  fulness  of  the  gospel 
oflfer  of  salvation — that  the  church  to  which  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  has  been  committed  has  shown  the 
strongest  disposition  to  tamper  with  God's  truth — to 
limit  the  freedom  of  the  gospel  offer,  or  add  to  the  one 
condition  of  salvation,  "  belief  in  the  only  begotten  Son 
of  God,"  which  God  has  prescribed,  other  conditions  of 
man's  devising. 


THE  GOSPEL  CALL. 


57 


1.  Early  in  the  history  of  the  church  in  her  Christian 
form,  and  while  many  of  the  apostles  were  yet  living, 
we  are  told  that,  '  *  Certain  men  which  came  down  from 
Judea  taught  the  brethren  and  said,  Except  ye  be  cir- 
cumcised after  the  manner  of  Moses,  ye  cannot  be  saved. ' ' 
(Acts  XV.  I )  thus  "adding  to"  the  gospel  as  preached 
by  Christ.  It  was  to  condemn  this  heresy  that  the 
** apostles  and  elders"  came  together  in  the  council  at 
Jerusalem.  Erom  the  days  of  Abraham  the  Jews  had 
occupied  the  position  of  God's  peculiar  people,  and 
it  was  not  without  a  fierce  struggle  that  Jewish  pre- 
judice yielded  to  the  clearly  revealed  truth  that  hence- 
forward "in  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth 
anything,  nor  uncircumcision,  but  a  new  creature." 
(Gal.  vi.  15.) 

2.  In  later  times  the  "church  catholic,"  as  she  de- 
lights to  call  herself,  both  Greek  and  Roman,  has  taught 
that  the  reception  of  the  sacraments,  especially  that  of 
baptism,  is  necessary  to  salvation,  in  so  doing  confound- 
ing that  which  God  has  made  necessary  as  a  duty  with 
that  which  he  has  made  a  condition  of  salvation,  in  the 
proper  sense  of  that  expression.  And  along  with  this 
and  as  an  inseparable  part  of  it,  she  has  taught  the  doc- 
trine of  "baptismal  regeneration,"  i.  e.,  that  regenera- 
tion, that  great  spiritual  change  which  marks  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  life,  is  wrought  ''en  opore  oporato,"' 
by  the  application  of  water  to  the  body,  thus  preaching 
"another  gospel,  which  is  not  another,  but  a  perversion 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ. ' ' 

3.  A  perversion  of  the  gospel,  of  greater  practical  im- 
portance for  us  Protestants  to  consider,  is  that  which  tlie 
awakened  sinner  often  falls  into  when  refusing  to  un- 
derstand the  gospel  call  in  the  plain  sense  of  the  words 
in  which  our  Lord  makes  it,  he  insists  that  he  must  do 


58  SOUTHERN  PKKSBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

something  to  fit  himself  for  coming  to  Jesus  ere  he  can 
venture  to  approach  him  as  the  Saviour  of  sinners.  The 
truth  expressed  in  the  words  of  Peter,  addressed  to  the 
Jewish  rulers,  "Him,"  /.  <f.,  Jesus,  "hath  God  exalted 
with  his  right  hand  to  be  a  prince  and  a  Saviour,  for  to 
give  repentance  to  Israel,  and  forgiveness  of  sins  " 
(Acts  V.  31),  is  very  humbling  to  the  pride  of  man's 
heart,  and  therefore  hard  for  him  to  receive.  Ordinarily, 
it  is  not  until  the  sinner  has  tried,  and  tried  in  vain,  to 
"fit  himself  for  coming  to  Jesus,"  that  he  learns  intelli- 
gently to  say, 

"Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea 
But  that  thy  blood  was  shed  for  me. 
And  that  thou  bid'st  me  come  to  thee, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come. 

"Just  as  I  am,  poor,  wretched,  blind, 
Sight,  riches,  healing  of  the  mind, 
Yea,  all  I  need  in  thee  to  find, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come." 

III.  If  the  gospel  offer  is  so  freely  made  and 

THE  provisions  OF  GOSPEL  GRACE  SO  FULL,  THE  QUES- 
tion may  be  asked,  how  comes  it  that  so  many  in 
Christian  lands  perish  ? 

That  many  who  have  lived  all  their  lives  under  the 
sound  of  the  gospel  faithfully  preached,  and  have,  at 
times,  felt  something  of  the  power  of  that  gospel,  do 
perish,  we  cannot  doubt,  for  our  Lord  expressly  testifies, 
* '  Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the 
will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  Many  will  say 
to  me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied 
in  thy  name?  and  in  thy  name  have  cast  out  devils? 
and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works?  And 
then  will  I  profess  unto  them,   I  never  knew  you;  de- 


THE  GOSPEL  CALL.  cq 

part  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity. ' '  (Matt.  vii.  21-23. ) 
How  is  this  to  be  accounted  for?  and,  more  especially, 
how  is  this  to  be  reconciled  with  the  declaration,  "  Ood 
sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world ; 
but  that  the  world  through  him  might  be  saved  "  (John 
iii.  17),  and  with  God's  sincerity  when  he  says,  "As  I 
live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death 
of  the  wicked ;  but  that  the  wicked  turn  from  his  way 
and  live;  turn  ye,  turn  ye  from  your  evil  ways;  for 
why  will  ye  die,  O  house  of  Israel  ? ' '    (Ezek.  xxxiii.  11.) 

In  attempting  to  answer  these  questions  we  must  re- 
member, (i),  That  the  gospel  is  not  a  proclamation  of 
universal  salvation,  but  of  salvation  for  "whosoever  be- 
lie veth  in  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God  ' ' ;  and  (2),  That 
God's  dealings  with  his  creatures  are  always  in  con- 
formity with  the  nature  he  has  given  them.  Having 
made  man  an  intelligent,  free  agent,  he  deals  with  him 
as  such  in  matter  which  concern  the  salvation  of  his 
soul  as  well  as  in  those  which  concern  the  well-being  of 
his  body.  To  the  Jews,  perishing  under  his  perfect 
ministry,  our  Lord  declares,  "Ye  will  not  come  to  me 
that  ye  might  have  life."     (John  v.  40.) 

Not  many  months  ago  a  man  was  hanged  in  our  midst. 
He  had  been  fairly  tried,  and  convicted  of  cold-blooded 
murder.  Under  the  laws  of  Virginia,  as  well  as  under 
the  law  of  God,  "He  that  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by 
man  shall  his  blood  be  shed."  A  murderer,  this  man 
but  suffered  the  righteous  consequence  of  his  own  crime. 
He  was  "hanged  until  dead"  by  authority  of  law  and 
by  a  public  ofl&cer  representing  the  Commonwealth  of 
Virginia.  In  view  of  these  facts  would  any  one  think, 
for  a  moment,  of  impeaching  the  righteousness  of  his 
execution,  or  of  calling  in  question  the  claim  on  the  part 
of  the  government  of  Virginia  to  be  a  trul}'  paternal 


6o  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

government,  seeking  the  highest  good  of  its  subjects, 
and  with  laws  wisely  designed  to  secure  that  end  ?  The 
relation  of  (rod  to  the  death  of  the  sinner  who  perishes 
under  this  our  gospel  dispensation,  is  fairly  illustrated  in 
the  conduct  of  our  Lord,  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh," 
when,  for  the  last  time,  approaching  Jerusalem,  he  wept 
over  it,  saying,  "O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that 
killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto 
thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  to- 
gether, even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her 
wings,  and  ye  would  not !  Behold,  your  house  is  left 
unto  you  desolate."     (Matt,  xxiii.  37,  38.) 

IV.  Is  NOT  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  ELECTION,  ESPECIALLY 
IN  THE  PRETERITION  WHICH  IT  NECESSARILY  IMPLIES, 
AS  TAUGHT  IN  "  ThE  CONFESSION  OF  FaITH,"  IRRE- 
CONCILABLE  WITH   God's   sincerity  in  the   gospel 

OFFER? 

If  that  doctrine  were  such  as  it  is  sometimes  repre- 
sented, or,  rather,  misrepresented,  to  be  by  those  who 
reject  it,  I  think  it  would  be.  Not  long  ago  I  heard  of 
a  celebrated  evangelist  stating  the  case  substantially  as 
follows,  viz.:  "Suppose  the  case  of  a  king  making  a 
great  supper  and  inviting  many  guests,  and  then,  at 
supper  time,  as  the  invited  guests  were  all  coming, 
causing  his  soldiers  to  seize  them  and  tie  them  to  trees 
in  sight  of  the  supper  table ;  and  when  this  was  done, 
sending  out  his  steward  to  ring  his  bell  and  cry,  '  Come 
to  supper,  come  to  supper.'  What  would  be  thought 
of  the  sincerity  of  the  king's  invitation  in  such  circum- 
stances as  these?"  If  this  were  a  fair  representation 
of  the  case,  but  one  answer  could  be  made  to  the  ques- 
tion. But  is  it  a  fair  representation?  I  answer,  as- 
suredly, no.  There  is  just  enough  of  truth  in  it  to  make 
it  the  worst  of  slanders. 


THE  GOSPEL  CALL.  6l 

1 .  It  is  true  in  so  far  as  its  representation  of  the  help- 
less condition,  by  nature,  of  the  sinner  to  whom  the 
gospel  call  is  addressed  is  concerned.  The  representa- 
tions of  Scripture  on  this  point  are  stronger  than  that  of 
this  evangelist.  According  to  Scripture,  the  sinner  is, 
by  nature,  not  tied  to  a  tree,  but  "dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins."  (Eph.  ii.  i.)  God  himself  represented  the 
work  of  preaching  the  gospel  to=  his  prophet,  Ezekiel,  in 
terms,  if  possible,  more  striking  than  those  quoted  above: 
* '  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  set  me  down  in  the  midst  of  the 
valley  which  was  full  of  bones,  and  caused  me  to  pass 
by  them  round  about:  and  behold,  there  were  very 
many  in  the  open  valley ;  and,  lo,  they  were  very  dry. 
And  he  said  unto  me.  Son  of  man,  can  these  dry  bones 
live?  And  I  answered,  O  Lord  God,  thou  knowest. 
Again  he  said  unto  me,  Prophesy  upon  these  bones,  and 
say  unto  them,  O  ye  dry  bones,  hear  the  word  of  the 
Lord."  (Ezek.  xxxvii.  1-4.)  I  find  no  fault  with  the 
representation  of  man's  helpless  condition  by  nature  as 
that  of  one  tied  to  a  tree.  It  certainly  is  not  so  strong 
as  that  of  Scripture.  But,  then,  there  is  a  question 
which  lies  back  of  this  which  needs  to  be  answered,  viz.: 

2.  Who  tied  him  there?  His  bonds,  in  part,  at  least, 
are  the  work  of  his  own  hands.  Take  the  case  of  the 
drunkard,  for  example,  and  the  Scriptures  tell  us  that 
**no  drunkard  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God." 
(i  Cor.  vi.  10.)  His  drunkenness,  as  long  as  it  is  per- 
sisted in,  is  an  insuperable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  his 
** believing  in  the  only 'begotten  Son  of  God."  Who 
made  him  the  drunkard  that  he  is?  It  is  certain  that 
God  did  not.  His  evil  habit  is  his  own  work,  and  by  its 
indulgence  he  is  every  day  strengthening  his  bonds. 
And  this  which  is  true  of  drunkenness  is  true  of  all 
other  sinful  habits,   e.  g.,  of  covetousness,  of  unbelief, 


62  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

and  worldly  lusts  in  all  its  forms.  In  so  far  as  these  are 
concerned,  a  man's  bonds  are  unquestionably  of  his  own 
making. 

But  there  is  something  back  of  all  this,  I  will  be  told. 
The  man  was  sin-ruined  from  his  birth,  as  David  con- 
fesses with  respect  to  himself :  "I  was  shapen  in  ini- 
quity, and  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me."  (Psalm 
li.  5.)  True;  but  in  no  proper  sense  of  that  expression 
can  it  be  said  that  God  made  him  the  sin-ruined  creature 
he  was  born.  We  are  all,  not  individuals  only,  but  \ve 
are  all  members  of  families,  and  peoples,  and  races  as 
well,  and  in  many  particulars  God  deals  wuth  us  as  such ; 
and  man  deals  with  his  fellow-man  on  the  same  princi- 
ple. Adam,  the  federal  as  well  as  the  natural  head  of 
our  race,  God  made  originally  "in  his  own  image,  after 
his  own  likeness"  (Gen.  i.  26),  *'in  knowledge,  righte- 
ousness, and  holiness,"  with  ability  perfectly  to  keep  the 
law.  But  he,  in  the  exercise  of  that  free  agency  with 
which  God  endowed  him,  sinned  against  God,  and  as 
the  righteous  consequence  of  his  sin,  came  under  the 
curse,  and  this  curse  he  has  transmitted  as  an  inheri- 
tance to  all  his  descendants  by  natural  generation.  The 
Scripture  record  is,  *'  And  Adam  begat  a  son  in  his  own 
likeness"  (Gen.  v.  2),  and  so  has  it  been  wnth  his  de- 
scendants ever  since.  In  this  way  it  has  come  to  pass 
that  we  are  all  ** conceived  in  sin."  In  view  of  these 
facts,  is  it  not  a  gross  misrepresentation  to  speak  of  man 
as  one  bound  to  a  tree  by  the  king's  soldiers,  and  so, 
virtually,  by  the  king  himself? 

3.  The  statement  we  are  examining  contains  a  still 
more  radical  misrepresentation  of  the  truth  in  likening 
the  gospel  call  to  that  of  the  king's  steward  proclaiming 
in  the  hearing  of  men  bound  to  trees,  "Come  to  supper, 
come  to  supper. ' '     Carrying  out  the  figurative  represen- 


THE  GOSPEL  CALL. 


63 


tation  adopted,  the  steward's  call,  if  it  is  truly  to  represent 
the  gospel  call,  ought  to  be :  "  Poor  captive,  let  me  loose 
thy  bonds,  that  thou  mayest  come  to  the  supper  graci- 
ously provided  for  thee."  One  of  the  first  records  we 
have  of  our  Lord's  public  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  in 
the  words:  **And  when  he  had  opened  the  book,  he 
found  the  place  where  it  was  written,  The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  poor :  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the 
broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives^  and 
recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them 
that  are  bruised" — the  openhig  of  the  pr is  071  to  them  thai 
are  bo u?id  (Isdi.  Ixi.  i) — "To  preach  the  acceptable  year 
of  the  Lord  .  .  .  This  day  is  this  Scripture  fulfilled  in 
your  ears."  (Luke  iv.  17-21.)  At  a  later  day,  when 
discussing  this  very  matter,  he  said  to  the  Jews,  in  an- 
swer to  their  boast,  "We  be  Abraham's  seed,  and  were 
never  in  bondage  to  any  man,  how  sayest  thou.  Ye 
shall  be  made  free?  Jesus  answered  them,  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Whosoever  committeth  sin  is  the 

servant  (bond-servant,  Rev.  Ver.)  of  sin If  the 

Son  therefore  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  in- 
deed." (John  viii.  33-35.)  As  our  Lord  himself 
preached  the  gospel,  it  is  not  a  call  to  a  bound  captive, 
* '  Come  to  supper,  come  to  supper, ' '  but,  poor  captive  of 
sin  and  Satan,  let  me  loose  thy  bonds  that  thou  mayest 
come. 

4.  One  of  the  most  subtile,  and  therefore,  most  dan- 
gerous forms  which  self-righteousness  assumes  in  the 
heart  of  the  awakened  sinner  is  that  expressed  in  the 
words,  "I  AM  NOT  FIT  TO  COME  TO  Jesus."  We  must 
not  confound  worthiness  with  fitness  to  come  to  Jesus. 
Worthiness  has  reference  to  man's  deserv'ings.  Jacob, 
on  the  very  occasion  on  which  God  changed  his  name 


64  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

to  Israel,  because,  "  as  a  prince  he  had  power  with  Cxod, 
and  with  men,  and  prevailed,"  confesses,  "I  am  not 
worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies  and  of  all  the  truth 
which  thou  hast  shown  unto  thy  vServant. "  (Oen.  xxii. 
lo.)  Fitness  has  reference  to  what  the  occasion  or  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  require.  And  never  was  there  a 
more  fitting  occasion  for  Jacob  to  ' '  wrestle ' '  with  God 
than  the  very  occasion  on  which  he  confesses  his  un- 
worthiness  of  the  least  of  all  his  mercies,  for  then  was 
he  in  an  extremity  in  which  God  alone  could  help  him. 

Does  Christ  present  himself  in  the  gospel  as  a  physi- 
cian? And  art  thou  sick?  Then  come  to  him  that 
thou  mayest  be  made  whole.  Thy  very  sickness  makes 
it  a  fitting  thing  that  thou  shouldest  come.  Did  Christ 
come  "not  to  call  the  righteous  but  sinners  to  repen- 
tance? "  (Matt.  ix.  13.)  And  art  thou  a  sinner?  Then 
come  to  him,  "  For  him  hath  God  exalted  w4th  his  right 
hand  to  be  a  prince  and  a  Saviour,  for  to  give  repentance 
to  Israel,  and  forgiveness  of  sins."  (Acts  v.  31.)  Thy 
ver}^  need  of  * '  repentance  and  forgiveness  of  sins ' ' 
renders  it  a  fitting  thing  that  thou  shouldest  come  to 
him. 

Do  not  mistake  the  nature  of  the  gospel  grace  given 
us  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  in  thy  folly  attempt  to  do  that 
which  God  alone  can  do,  and  which,  for  Christ's  sake, 
he  stands  ready  to  do  for  you.  You  have  within  you 
"a  heart  of  stone,"  /.  e.,  a  heart  feeling  no  genuine 
contrition  for  sin,  no  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  no  love  to 
God  ;  and  by  no  determination  of  your  own,  by  no  effort 
of  will,  by  no  use  of  means  can  you  ever  change  that 
heart  of  stone  into  one  of  flesh.  If  this  work  is  ever 
accomplished,  (xod  must  do  it  for  you.  And  this  is  but 
a  part  of  that  which  God  proposes  to  do  for  you  in  the 
gospel,  and  what  you  need  to  come  to  him  for.      '*A 


THE  GOSPEL  CALL. 


^>5 


new  heart,  also,  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I 
put  within  you ;  and  I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart 
out  of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  a  heart  of  flesh. 
And  I  will  put  my  Spirit  within  you,  and  cause  you  to 
walk  in  my  statutes,  and  ye  shall  keep  my  judgments, 
and  do  them."     (Ezek.  xxxvi.  26,  27.) 

The  repentance,  faith  and  love;  the  contrite  spirit, 
the  believing  mind,  the  loving  heart,  which,  in  their 
beginning  at  the  least,  make  up  the  idea  of  fitness  in  the 
mind  of  him  who  says,  "I  am  not  fit  to  come  to  Jesus," 
are  all  "fruits  of  the  Spirit."  (See  Gal.  v.  22,  23.) 
They  are  not  excellences  to  be  wrought  out  by  the  sinner 
in  preparation  for  coming  to  Christ,  but  ' '  gifts  of  God, ' ' 
bestowed  through  Christ  and  for  Christ's  sake  upon  the 
sinner  who  comes  to  him.  Believe,  then,  that  our  Lord 
meant  just  what  he  said,  and  all  that  he  said,  when  he 
cried :  * '  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life 
freely." 


''WHAT  IS  THE  CHAFF  TO  THE 
WHEAT?" 

BY  REV.  J.  W.  LUPTON,  D.  D., 
Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Clarkesville,  Tenn. 


"  What  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the  Lord." — Jeremiah 
xxiii.  28. 

WHATEVER  the  Lord  saith  is  worthy  of  the  at- 
tention of  men.  The  word  the  Father  writes 
in  his  letter  is  as  important  as  the  word  he 
speaks.  If  God,  from  the  open  heavens,  should  ask 
each  of  us  "  What  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat  ? ' '  there 
would  be  a  thrill  of  activity  running  through  us.  He 
does  ask  it,  "What  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the 
Lord. ' '  What  is  the  outward  hull  of  the  body  as  com- 
pared with — the  kernel — the  deathless  thing  within? 
What  is  that  which  goes  into  the  flame  or  is  driven  be- 
fore the  wind  as  compared  with  that  which  is  to  be  gar- 
nered in  heaven  or  hell  forever  ? 

Let  us  try  to  answer  God. 

The  most  prominent  thought  springing  from  the  text 
in  its  relation  to  the  context,  is  one  for  ministers  of  the 
gospel.  Let  each  one,  as  he  sits  in  his  study  or  stands 
in  the  pulpit,  weigh  the  question  as  it  is  related  to  verse 
one  of  the  chapter,  *  *  Woe  unto  the  pastors  that  destroy 
and  scatter  the  sheep  of  my  pasture!  saith  the  Lord." 
Or  to  verse  eleven,  "Both  prophet  and  priest  are  pro- 
fane ;  yea,  in  my  house  have  I  found  their  wickedness, 
saith  the  Lord."  Or  verse  fifteen,  "From  the  prophets 
is   profaneness" — margin  hypocrisy — "gone  forth  into 

66 


^HE 


text 


**WHAT  IS  THE  CHAFF  TO  THE  WHEAT?"  67 

all  the  land"  ;  or  verse  sixteen,  "  They,"  i.  e.,  the  pro- 
phets, "speak  a  vision  of  their  own  heart  and  not  out  of 
the  mouth  of  the  Lord."  Read  all  the  chapter  and  fit  it 
to  the  text,  and  hear  God  ask  his  question,  "What  is 
the  chaff  to  the  wheat?"  If  we  hear  with  the  heart 
and  not  simply  with  * '  the  hearing  of  the  ear, ' '  a  sense 
of  dread  responsibility  would  weigh  us  down  and  ehmi- 
nate  everything  extraneous,  and  fire  us  with  an  un- 
known zeal  to  win  for  the  eternal  home  all  that  is  imper- 
ishable in  man.  A  sense  of  the  "woe  unto  me  if  I 
preach  not  the  gospel ' '  would  be  necessary  to  keep  us 
in  our  places. 

There  were  pastors  who  *  *  scattered  and  destroyed  the 
sheep  of  the  pasture."  The  result  was  a  land  full  of 
adultery,  profanity  and  wickedness.  Folly  was  in  the 
prophets  causing  Israel  to  err.  A  general  laxity  from 
that  high  standard  which  the  Lord  requires  was  visible 
everywhere.  And  worldliness  had  eaten  the  church 
like  a  worm  at  its  root.  The  Lord  is  represented  as  a 
holy  and  devout  man,  vexed  beyond  measure  at  what 
seemed  a  hopeless  case,  crying,  ' '  He  that  hath  my  word 
let  him  speak  my  word  faithfully.  What  is  the  chaff  to 
the  wheat  ? ' ' 

Is  prayer  a  necessity  for  ministers?  Can  the  people 
afford  to  hear  a  sermon  from  him  whom  they  have  not 
commended  to  God  ?  Should  the  cry,  '  *  What  is  truth  ? ' ' 
ever  be  absent  from  a  minister's  lips  ?  Should  preachers 
earnestly  seek  the  best  gifts?  Should  sessions  recom- 
mend and  presbyteries  license  limp  and  cowardly  men? 
Should  he  who  regards  the  ministry  as  a  mere  profession 
be  permitted  to  occupy  the  sacred  desk?  Are  men  still 
called  of  God  as  was  Aaron?  Should  churches  be  so 
eager  for  men  who  will  ' '  draw, ' '  and  for  the  purpose  of 
drawing,  should  ministers  preach  short  sermons,  pleasant 


68  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

semioiivS,  easy  sermons ;  sermons  for  the  chaff  and  per- 
mit the  wheat  to  shrivel  and  die  ? 

If  ,there  be  one  thing  worthy  of  the  name  of  supreme 
trifling  among  men,  it  must  be  found  with  that  man 
who,  when  Jesus  had  found  his  way  to  our  apostate 
world,  and  out  of  it  through  sufferings  unequalled,  and 
then,  that  men  might  know  his  will,  say,  "Go,  preach 
my  gospel,"  stands  forth  in  some  holy  place  in  holy 
time,  and  uses  that  place  and  time  and  opportunity  in 
tricking,  amusing,  or  merely  entertaining  people  for  his 
own  ends. 

If  there  be  a  deeper  and  darker  place  where  God  shuts 
some  off  from  future  mischief,  it  must  be  occupied  by 
those  of  whom  God  says,  "I  have  not  sent  these  pro- 
phets yet  they  ran :  I  have  not  spoken  to  them  yet  they 
prophesied."  Usurpers.  "Prophets  of  the  deceit  of 
their  own  heart, "  "  telling  lies  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, ' ' 
and  causing  God's  people  to  forget  his  name,  and  bring- 
ing myriad  disasters  upon  the  land. 

Has  this  thing  been  done  ?  Our  answer  comes  through 
references  from  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
New ;  from  ecclesiastical  history ;  our  own  observation 
as  well  as  from  what  our  fathers  have  told  us ;  kings 
who  have  usurped  the  theocratic  throne  as  well  as  pro- 
phets and  priests,  have  led  the  people  away  from  God 
after  Baal,  Mammon,  and  god's  many  and  lords  many. 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees  have  done  the  same.  So  have 
Antinomians,  Socinians  and  Materialists,  and  men  in 
Popish  and  Protestant  pulpits.  Yes,  and  men  who,  in 
the  effort  to  exalt  themselves  and  make  their  craft  suc- 
cessful, have  so  carefully  studied  "the  things  that  make 
for  peace  "  as  to  eliminate  from  their  teaching  all  thought 
that  a  God  so  holy  that  angels  cannot  stand  before  him, 
can  possibly  have  any  charge  against  a  man  defiled  from 


"what  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat?"         69 

the  crown  of  his  head  to  the  soles  of  his  feet.  ' '  All  is 
done, "  * '  God  is  only  love. ' ' 

There  is  a  high  and  broad  way  to  heaven.  Crowds 
are  going.  We  hear  but  little  of  warnings  of  the  neces- 
sity of  repentance,  consequently  we  see  but  little  of  con- 
viction, and,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  after  life,  but  little 
of  conversion. 

When  there  is  so  much  charity  that  dead  men,  how- 
ever they  have  lived  and  died,  can  be  carried  to  heaven 
on  its  wings  as  easily  as  Lazarus  was  by  angels,  men 
will  live  and  die  without  regard  to  the  word  of  the  Lord. 
Hell  drops  out  of  the  system.  So  does  discipline.  The 
newspapers  tell  the  number  of  converts,  worthless  statis- 
tics pander  to  denominational  pride,  and  a  large,  limp  and 
deceived  church  starts  on  its  way  to  the  palace  royal  of 
the  King,  cleaving  to  the  good  things  of  this  life,  shun- 
ning the  narrow  road  so  difficult  to  find,  and  having  so 
little  company  when  found.  Chaff  gathered  in,  wheat 
left  out.  God  and  mammon  are  mingled.  Rites  take 
the  place  of  religion ;  sin  regarded  as  disease  or  misfor- 
tune only  ;  Sabbath  a  holiday ;  Jesus  Christ  a  mere  man 
and  but  little  better  than  other  ' '  holiness  people ' '  ;  bread 
and  wine  equal  to  faith  and  a  spiritual  life  drawn  from 
his  body  and  blood;  the  Spirit  of  God  a  myth,  and  not 
unfrequently  revelry,  carnaHty  and  refined  polite  sensu- 
ahty,  a  mark  of  Hberty  which  souls,  panting  after  God, 
have  never  found,  and  which  regards  with  contempt 
people  who  strive  to  live  within  God's  pavilion. 

The  minister  who  does  not  distinguish  between  tlie 
chaff  and  the  wheat  must  answer  for  it  in  no  small 
measure. 

True,  there  are  some  things  calculated  to  hold  up 
fainting  spirits  when  confronted  with  God's  awful  com- 
mands   to    his    ambassadors,    "  I    am  a  frail    man    like 


yo  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

others  "  ;  "I  am  not  here  from  choice  "  ;  "  that  woe 
keep.s  me  at  work."  "  Friendships  are  sweet  to  me  and 
it  is  hard  to  offend.  I  value  the  good  opinion  of  my 
fellow- men,  and  I  have  faults  and  sins  like  others,  and 
I  am  afraid  of  'physician,  heal  thyself.'  Then,  too, 
temperaments  differ,  and  it  is  right  to  reach  results  by 
pacific  measures."  "Surely,  then,  the  loving  Master 
will  not  hold  me  to  a  strict  account.  He  will  take  the 
blood  of  souls  farther  away  from  my  skirts  when  he  re- 
members the  awfulness  and  the  hardness  of  the  work  he 
has  given  me  to  do."  He  does  not  ask  that  a  loving 
and  tender  regard  for  men,  for  ourselves  or  for  him  be 
forgotten,  but  that  a  constant  remembrance  of  the  value 
of  the  wheat  above  that  of  the  chaff  will  keep  us  at  our 
work  in  whatever  way  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  direct  a 
prayerful  and  submissive  Spirit.  God's  charges  are  not 
against  frail  men  and  loving  spirits,  but  against  men 
who  keep  his  truth  from  the  people.  And  this  fully 
preached  by  any  kind  of  spirit  will  produce  the  exact  re- 
sult Jesus  foretold  when  his  disciples  asked,  "What 
shall  we  have  ?  ' ' 

There  can  be  but  two  reasons  for  fewer  martyrs  now 
than  in  a  former  day.  Either  God  is  curbing  man's 
hatred  and  the  poweis  of  wickedness  to  give  rest  to  his 
suffering  people  before  the  coming  of  those  days  of  woe 
which,  for  the  elects'  sake,  must  be  shortened;  or  the 
prophets  prophesy  smooth  things,  and  the  people  love  to 
have  it  so.  The  kind  of  preaching  Jesus  approved  cost 
John  the  Baptist  his  head,  took  Jesus  himself  to  the 
cross,  and  the  disciples  and  a  long  line  of  martyrs  to  an 
untimely  death,  a  blessed  end  as  compared  with  that  of 
him  who  overlooks  the  wheat. 

Again — The  question  comes  in  practical  form  to  all 
learners  and  teachers,  especially  parents. 


WHAT  IS  THE  CHAFF  TO  THE  WHEAT?' 


71 


What  is  the  abundant  cultivation  of  the  intellect  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  heart?  Why  the  excessive 
scholasticism  sought  by  students  and  insisted  upon  by 
parents  and  teachers  and  the  sad  neglect  of  early  piety  ? 
The  Samuels,  Josiahs,  Daniels  and  Timothys  seem  to 
diminish  in  numbers. 

It  is  not  implied  that  the  chaff  is  absolutely  worthless, 
but  only  comparatively  so.  Independently  considered, 
it  is  of  great  value,  but  only  of  value  as  it  serves  its 
part  in  furnishing  the  full  grain  for  the  garner.  There 
is  no  intention  to  underrate  careful  intellectual  training, 
still,  the  question  comes  back,  what  is  exhaustive  effort 
in  this  line  as  compared  with  the  spiritual  man?  A 
man's  Greek  and  Hebrew  will  greatly  aid  the  soul  in 
reaching  a  lofty  maturity  from  the  milk  and  meat  of 
God's  word.  Observation,  travel,  thought,  the  study  of 
great  principles  which  underlie  and  hold  up  empires,, 
will  never  be  lost.  Still,  what  is  a  man,  however 
scholarly,  his  head  bending  under  the  weight  of  learn- 
ing, his  features  chiseled  into  classic  beauty,  if  the  heart 
be  starved  and  cold?  As  teacher,  how  can  he  warm  a 
soul?  as  learner,  how  can  he  be  receptive?  or,  what  will 
Latin  profit  a  lost  soul,  or  music  in  a  world  of  dis- 
cord and  with  a  tongue  on  fire  ?  Will  it  avail  anything 
to  be  able  to  curse  God  in  Hebrew  or  in  language  the 
most  scientific?  Who  cares  to  ask  rocks,  in  geological 
language,  to  fall  on  them  in  the  winnowing  day?  Will 
logic  and  rhetoric  soften  the  description  of  woes  eternal  ? 
or  pure  mathematics  help  to  find  the  centre  of  a  bottom- 
less pit?  What  is  the  chaff  of  your  child,  your  pupil, 
your  hearer,  yourself,  to  a  deathless  soul  ?  What  is  tlie 
chaff  to  the  wheat  when  both  are  on  fire?  Only  the  fuel 
which  adds  intensity  to  the  flame.  Culture  to  a  lost  man 
adds  to  his  torment  as  he  is  beaten  with  many  stripes. 


72  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

And  yet  the  truth  stands  out  before  us  that  the  trend, 
even  of  the  rehgious  world,  is  largely  in  the  direction  of 
making  everything  attractive  and  easy.  "Get  the  Bible 
out  of  the  schools ;  "  "  the  catechism  is  too  hard ;  '  * 
"never  whip  your  child;  "  never  force  him  to  church; 
let  him  attend  family  worship  or  not,  as  he  wills  ;  mind 
cultivated  and. soul  neglected. 

Again — The  question  comes  in  practical  form  to  all 
readers  and  hearers.  What  is  the  body  to  the  soul?  the 
withering,  dying  thing,  the  hull,  to  the  real  man.  ' '  The 
Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life ;  and  man  be- 
came a  livijig  soul ;  "  and  the  real  man  is  that  "living 
soul,"  and  always  will  be.  What  is  the  dust  to  that? 
Gaze  into  the  face  of  your  friend  ;  see  there  the  eye  out 
of  which  something  looks  ;  grasp  a  hand  that  has  life  in  it ; 
see  lips  open,  out  of  which  a  man  speaks,  and  that  man 
links  himself  to  the  man  within  3^ou  by  tendrils  of  love. 
Two  bodies  do  not  meet  and  attract  or  repel  but  two 
men — living  souls.  Look  again ;  the  eye  is  closed,  your 
friend  seems  to  sleep,  no  answer  to  your  call.  Open  the 
eye ;  nothing  looks  out  of  the  leaden-hued  dead  thing ; 
you  may  get  a  word  from  the  stone  as  readily  as  from 
that.  It  is  unmoved  by  cries  and  tears  or  the  worm 
approaching.  In  a  few  days  lift  the  coffin  lid,  and  you 
are  convinced,  if  not  before,  that  no  living  thing  went  in 
there,  but  something  which  made  the  heart  beat  against 
yours  has  gone  and  left  the  chaff,  its  wrapping,  to  perish ; 
and  we  do  the  same,  and  leave  it  lying  out  in  the  cold 
and  night  and  rain,  or  under  the  snow.  In  reality  it 
is  just  what  it  was  before,  only  the  greenness  has  faded 
from  the  chaff;  its  form  is  changing,  it  is  rapidly  going 
to  dust;  still,  if  that  be  the  real  man,  it  needs  your  care 
all  the  more.     Then  why  not  dress  it  in  holiday  attire. 


"what  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  "  73 

seat  it  beside  you,  entertain  it  beneath  the  cypress  trees 
with  conversation  and  good  fare?  Alas,  you  would  be 
called  insane ;  those  who  spent  their  time  among  tombs 
were  demoniacs.  The  world  has  made  an  advance  since 
people,  where  affection  is  more  than  carnality,  have 
ceased  to  throw  themselves  in  abandon  on  dead  bodies 
and  wail,  or  to  embalm  them  and  bring  them  to  annual 
feasts  garlanded  with  flowers,  and  have  learned  to  regard 
the  body  as  dead  and  hence  right  that  it  should  be  ' '  dust 
to  dust ' '  which  they  never  will,  nor  wish,  to  see  again 
as  before.  We  are  glad  that  flesh  and  blood,  damaged 
by  sin  and  the  world,  will  never  enter  heaven.  But 
where  is  that  living  thing  that  breathed  and  looked  and 
loved,  or  where  will  it  be  when  the  garnered  centuries 
of  time  are  over?  We  are  not  infidels,  in  theory,  at  least. 
Our  living  souls  press  on  to  find  the  wheat  when  we  are 
at  our  best,  and  we  know  right  well  where  we  shall  see 
it  again ;  but  realizing  how  much  we  miss  the  precious 
truth,  not  only  with  regard  to  friends  "loved  long  since 
and  lost  a  while,"  but  with  regard  to  ourselves  as  we 
go  on  trying  to  solve  the  problem,  "What  shall  we  eat 
and  drink,  and  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed"  while 
neglecting  the  deathless  thing  which  will  soon  leap  out 
of  its  shell  and  live  and  grow  forever. 

No    wonder    God   puts    amazement   in   his    question, 
"What  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat?" 


CHRIST'S   PASTORAL   PRESENCE   WITH 
HIS  DYING  PEOPLE. 

.  BY  JOHN   L.  GIRARDEAU,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
Lately  Professor  of  Theology  in  Columbia  Theological  Seminary. 


"Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  I  will  fear  no  evil :  for  thou  art  with  me;  thy  rod  and  thy 
staff  they  comfort  me." — Psalm  xxiii.  4. 

IN  this  exquisite,  sacred  pastoral,  the  Psalmist  of  Israel 
celebrates,  in  touching  strains,  the  constant  and  ten- 
der care  which  God  exercises  towards  his  covenant 
people.  Under  the  beautiful  imagery  of  a  shepherd, 
leading  his  flock  to  green  pastures  and  beside  still  waters, 
he  is  represented  as  conducting  them  to  the  rich  provi- 
sions and  the  refreshing  rest  of  the  gospel.  When,  like 
wandering  sheep,  they  deviate  from  his  ways,  he  seeks 
them  in  love,  collects  them  again  with  the  pastoral  crook, 
and  guides  them  once  more  in  the  paths  of  righteousness 
and  peace.  When,  in  their  waywardness  and  folly,  they 
backslide  from  him,  he  still  remembers  his  covenant,  is 
faithful  to  his  promises,  and  saves  them  for  the  sake  of 
his  own  great  name;  and  when  they  come  to  pass 
through  the  valley  of  the  death-shade,  his  cheering  pre- 
sence dispels  their  fears,  and  his  powerful  grace  proves 
their  solace  and  support. 

Though  it  be  true  that  Jehovah,  the  triune  God,  is  the 
Shepherd  of  his  people,  there  is  a  peculiar  and  emphatic 
sense  in  which  Christ  is  represented  in  the  gospel  as 
sustaining  the  pastoral  relation  and  discharging  its  func- 
tions.    The  Evangelist  John  reports  him  as  declaring, 

74 


■  m 

tittaurj. 

j^^ 

lel 

A 

>>l.li 


tlie  ,; 


ii  f^?^^*^ 


CHRIST'S  PASTORAL  PRESENCE,    ETC.  75 

* '  I  am  the  Good  Shepherd ;  the  Good  Shepherd  giveth 
his  life  for  the  sheep. ' '  The  Apostle  Paul  speaks  of  the 
God  of  peace  as  having  brought  again  from  the  dead  our 
Lord  Jesus,  that  Great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through 
the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant.  The  Apostle 
Peter  reminds  believers  that  whereas  they  were  in  their 
natural  condition  as  sheep  going  astray,  they  are  now 
returned  unto  Christ  as  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  their 
souls.  And  the  same  apostle  exhorts  presbyters  to  feed 
the  flock  of  God  in  view  of  the  reward  which  the  (^reat 
Pastor  would  eventually  confer  upon  them :  ' '  And  when 
the  Chief  Shepherd  shall  appear,  ye  shall  receive  a  crown 
of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away."  These  passages  make 
it  sufficiently  evident  that  the  Lord  Jesus  is  peculiarly 
the  Shepherd  of  his  people. 

The  pastoral  relation  is  a  comprehensive  one,  includ- 
ing the  three  offices  which  Christ,  as  Mediator,  sus- 
tains :  those  of  a  Prophet,  a  Priest  and  a  King.  As  it  is 
the  province  of  a  shepherd  to  feed  his  flock,  to  rule  and 
protect  them  from  their  enemies,  and,  if  necessary,  to 
lay  down  his  life  in  their  defence,  the  prophetical  func- 
tion, by  which  Jesus  feeds  his  people,  the  kingly,  b>' 
which  he  rules  and  protects  them,  and  the  sacerdotal, 
by  which  he  redeems  them  through  his  death,  are  all 
embraced  in  his  pastoral  office.  It  touches  the  interests, 
the  experience  and  the  hopes  of  believers  at  every  point, 
both  in  life  and  in  death.  It  involves  the  application  of 
a  Saviour's  power,  love  and  mercy  to  their  every  emer- 
gency and  their  every  need.  With  infinite  tenderness 
compassion  and  vigilance,  the  great  Pastor  follows  liis 
sheep  through  every  devious  path  of  life,  and  extends 
to  them  his  succor  when  they  faint  under  burning  suns, 
in  the  horrid  wilderness,  and  amidst  the  glooms  and 
terrors  of  the  shadow  of  death. 


76  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  remarked  in  attempting 
to  expand  the  comforting  truths  suggested  by  the  text, 
that  the  pastoral  presence  of  Jesus  is  a  protection  to  the 
dying  believer  from  the  fears  of  evil  which  would  other- 
wise distress  him.  "When  I  walk  through  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death  I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  thou  art 
with  me."  I  have  no  objection  to  render  to  the  view 
which  makes  these  words  applicable  to  those  critical 
passages  in  the  life  of  God's  people,  which  may  not  in- 
appropriately be  described  as  the  valley  of  the  death- 
shade.  This  was  evidently  the  interpretation  of  that 
masterly  delineator  of  Christian  experience,  John  Bunyan, 
in  his  immortal  allegory.  He  represents  his  pilgrim  as 
struggling  with  the  dangers  and  conflicts  of  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death  before  he  comes  to  the  crossing 
of  the  last  river.  And  it  cannot  be  disputed  that  there 
are  seasons  in  the  experience  of  the  believer,  when, 
pressed  by  his  besetting  temptations,  pursued  by  the 
malice  of  the  devil,  and  fascinated  by  the  enchantments 
or  persecuted  by  the  fury  of  the  world,  he  encounters 
terrors  which  are  akin  to  those  of  death  itself.  In  these 
fearful  exigencies,  these  periods  of  conflict,  depression 
and  anguish,  he  appears  to  be  passing  down  into  the 
darkness  and  gloom  of  the  valley  of  death ;  and  it  is  the 
pastoral  presence  of  Christ  in  the  hour  of  despair  which 
dissipates  the  fear  of  evil  and  lights  up  the  soul  with  re- 
turning joy  and  peace.  But  although  this  be  true,  I  see 
no  reason  for  disturbing  the  ordinary  interpretation 
placed  upon  the  words  of  the  text — an  interpretation 
which  makes  them  specially  applicable  to  the  passage 
of  the  believer  through  death,  and  one  which  has  proved 
a  charm  to  dispel  the  apprehensions  of  ill  from  the 
bosoms  of  thousands  of  Christ's  people  amidst  the 
doubts,  the  strifes,  the  agonies  of  the  dying  hour. 


CHRIST'S  PASTORAL  PRESENCE,   ETC.  77 

There  are  three  great  and  notable  epochs  in  the  earthly 
history  of  the  believer  in  Jesus.  The  first  is  that  in 
which,  at  the  creative  fiat  of  the  Almighty  Maker,  he 
springs  from  nonenity  into  being,  and  is  confronted  with 
the  duties,  the  responsibiHties  and  the  bliss  or  woe  of  an 
immortal  career.  The  next  is  that  in  which,  by  virtue 
of  a  second  creation  and  through  the  wondrous  process 
of  the  new  birth  and  conversion,  he  passes  from  the 
kingdom  of  Satan  and  of  darkness  into  the  kingdom  of 
grace  and  of  Hght.  From  being  a  bondsman  of  the 
devil,  a  slave  of  sin  and  an  heir  of  hell,  he  becomes,  by 
a  marvellous  transformation,  a  subject  of  God,  a  citizen 
of  heaven,  and  an  inheritor  of  everlasting  possessions 
and  an  amaranthine  crown.  It  is  a  transitional  process 
which  awakens  the  pulse  of  a  new  life,  engenders  the 
habits  of  holiness,  adorns  the  soul  with  the  rich  graces 
of  the  divine  Spirit,  and  inspires  the  joyful  hope  of  eter- 
nal felicity  beyond  the  grave.  The  third,  and  it  is  the 
most  solemn  and  terrible  crisis  of  his  being,  is  that  of 
death,  in  which  the  believer  passes  through  nature's 
closing  conflict  and  the  awful  change  of  dissolution  to 
the  experience  of  an  untried  existence.  The  transition 
is  suited  to  alarm.  It  is  nothing  less  than  one  from 
time  to  eternity,  and  it  is  accomplished  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye.  At  one  moment  he  is  surrounded  by  the 
familiar  objects  of  earth,  and  looks  upon  the  faces  of  his 
weeping  friends  who  cluster  around  the  bed  of  death, 
and  in  the  next  he  opens  his  eyes  upon  eternal  realites 
and  the  blaze  of  God's  immediate  presence.  Nature,  con- 
structed originally  for  an  immortal  life,  instinctively  re- 
coils from  so  violent  and  revolting  a  change  as  that  which 
death  involves.  It  shrinks  back  in  terror  from  the 
vision  of  the  coffin  and  the  shroud,  of  the  corruption  and 
the  worms  of  the  grave.     The  circumstances  attending 


78  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

the  dying  process  are  such  as  are  suited  to  appal  a  con- 
scious sinner,  and  fill  him  with  consternation  and  dis- 
may— the  cruel  rupture,  of  earthly  relations,  the  sudden 
withdrawal  of  accustomed  scenes,  the  forced  abandon- 
ment of  wonted  pursuits,  the  absolute  loneliness  of  the 
passage,  the  dread  neighborhood  of  the  flaming  bar  and 
the  rigor  of  the  last  account.  My  brethren,  how  shall 
we,  without  apprehension,  encounter  so  tremendous  a 
change?  The  text  furnishes  us  an  answer  which  illu- 
mines the  g\o6m  of  the  dying  chamber,  and  lights  up 
the  darkness  of  the  grave.  The  pastoral  presence  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  is  an  antidote  to  the  fears,  and  a  preventive 
of  the  evils,  of  death.  There  are  two  modes  by  which 
this  blessed  result  is  accomplished  : 

I.  In  the  first  place  the  Great  Shepherd  accompanies 
the  believer  in  his  last  passage  as  the  Conqueror  of  Death. 
That  which  chiefly  renders  death  an  object  of  terror  is 
the  consciousness  of  guilt.  The  groans,  the  pains,  the 
dissolution  of  our  bodily  organisms,  are  confessedly 
dreadful  and  repulsive ;  but  the  great  poet  was  right 
when  he  intimated  that  it  is  conscience,  a  guilty  conscience 
forecasting  the  retributions  of  the  future,  which  makes 
cowards  of  us  all.  It  is  this  which  leads  us  to  shrink 
from  the  dying  bed  as  an  arena  of  battle,  and  from  the 
last  struggle  as  a  hopeless  conflict  with  an  evil  which 
the  startled  imagination  personates  as  a  monarch  and  in- 
vests with  power  to  destroy.  Death  becomes  the  king 
of  terrors.  Were  there  no  sin,  the  change  which  might 
have  been  necessary  to  remove  us  from  the  present  state 
and  to  adapt  us  to  another  would  have  been  an  easy  and 
delightful  translation,  a  euthanasia,  disquieted  by  no 
apprehensions  of  the  soul,  and  disturbed  by  no  pains  of 
the  body.  But  sin  has  clothed  death  with  its  tyrannical 
prerogative  as  a  universal  and  remorseless  despot,  con- 


CHRIST'S  PASTORAL  PRESENCE,   ETC.  79 

verted  the  world  into  a  melancholy  theatre  of  his  tri- 
umphs, and  transformed  the  earth  into  a  vast  graveyard, 
whitened  with  the  monuments  of  his  sway.  The  re- 
moval from  the  present  state  becomes  a  passage  through 
a  valley  of  tears  peopled  with  shapes  of  terror,  and  en- 
compassed with  the  darkness  of  the  death-shade. 

Christ  has  subdued  this  dreadful  monster.  He  con- 
quered death  by  conquering  sin,  and  he  overcomes  sin 
by  his  dying  obedience  to  law.  This  is  the  statement  of 
the  apostle  in  his  argument  touching  the  resurrection  of 
the  body:  "The  sting  of  death  is  sin."  The  power  of 
death  to  inflict  torture,  to  poison  our  happiness  and 
blast  our  hopes,  lies  in  the  fact  that  we  are  guilty,  and 
are,  therefore,  completely  subjected  to  his  tyranny. 
"The  strength  of  sin  is  the  law."  'i'he  punishment  of 
our  guilt  is  penal.  Our  dying  sufferings  are  the  penalty 
of  a  broken  law;  and  sin,  in  inflicting  them  upon  us, 
throws  itself  back  for  the  enforcement  of  its  authority 
upon  the  irreversible  sanctions  of  that  majestic  and 
eternal  rule  which  we  have  outraged  and  insulted. 
Christ  has  stripped  sin  of  this  strength.  He  has  un- 
nerved the  cruel  monarch,  and  rendered  him  powerless 
to  destroy  his  people.  The  glorious  Redeemer,  moved  by 
compassion  for  our  wretched  estate,  came  down  to  our  re- 
lief and  stood  forth  as  the  champion  of  his  church  in  her 
conflict  with  death.  He  assumed  our  guilt,  took  the  sting 
of  death  in  his  own  soul,  underwent  our  penal  sufferings 
and,  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  substitution,  relieved 
us  from  the  obligation  to  suffer  the  same  punishment, 
and  has  enlisted  the  divine  justice  on  the  side  of  our  de- 
liverance. Christ  has  died  penally  for  his  people,  (ifxl 
accepts  the  vicarious  sacrifice,  and  the  believer  camiot 
die  in  the  same  way.  Justice  cannot  demand  a  double 
payment  of  the  same   debt.     Death  is  divested  of  its 


8o  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

penal  feature,  and  is  transformed  from  a  curse  into  a 
blessing,  from  a  passage  to  execution  into  a  translation 
to  bliss.  In  the  tragedy  enacted  upon  the  cross,  Jesus, 
the  representative  of  his  people,  engaged  in  a  mighty 
wrestle  with  Death.  He  fell,  but  his  fall  crushed  out 
the  life  of  his  dread  antagonist.  He  died,  but  death 
died  with  him.  He  was  buried,  but  he  dragged  death 
down  with  him  into  the  grave ;  and  there,  despoiling  the 
tyrant  of  his  diadem,  he  unfurled  over  his  crownless 
head  the  ensign  of  his  people's  salvation,  and,  in  their 
name,  took  undisputed  possession  of  his  whole  domain. 
It  is  true  that  the  believer  must  still  pass  through  the 
dying  change,  but  the  curse  of  it  is  forever  gone.  It  is 
no  more  death  in  its  true  and  awful  sense  as  the  penalty 
of  law.  "I,"  says  the  divine  Redeemer,  **I  am  the 
resurrection  and  the  life ;  he  that  believeth  in  me, 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live;  and  he  that 
liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die. "  *  *  He  that 
keepeth  my  sayings  shall  never  see  death."  It  is  true 
that  the  believer  must  die  ;  but  in  dying  he  is  privileged 
to  suffer  with  his  Master,  that  he  may  rise  and  reign 
with  him.  It  is  true  that  the  believer  must  die;  but 
death  now^  constitutes  part  of  a  wholesome  discipline 
w^hich  prepares  him  for  glory ;  it  is  a  process  by  which 
he  is  purged  from  dross,  casts  off  the  slough  of  corrup- 
tion, and  is  purified  for  his  admission  into  the  holy  pre- 
sence of  God  and  the  sanctified  communion  of  saints. 
It  is  true  that  he  must  walk  through  the  dark  valley ; 
but  the  Conqueror  of  Death  descends  into  it  by  his  side, 
illuminates  its  darkness  by  the  radiance  of  his  presence, 
protects  him  from  the  assaults  of  a  now  powerless  foe, 
and  bearing  in  his  hands  the  keys  of  death  and  the  in- 
visible world,  peacefully  dismisses  the  departing  saint 
from  sin  to  holiness,  and  from  the  stormy  trials  of  earth 
to  the  joy  and  peace  of  an  everlasting  rest. 


CHRIST  S  PASTORAL  PRESENCE,   ETC.  8l 

2.  It  may  be  observed  further,  that  the  pastoral  pre- 
sence of  Jesus  with  his  dying  people  is  manifested  by 
the  tender  ministration  of  his  sympathy.     There  were 
two  great  ends  which  the  Saviour  contemplated  in  his 
sufferings  and  death — the  one  that  he  might  redeem  his 
people  from  sin  and  everlasting  punishment;  the  othet 
that  he  might  be  qualified  by  experience  to  sympathize 
with  them  while  themselves  passing  through  the  afflic- 
tions of  life  and  the  pains  of  the  dying  hour.     To  achieve 
these  results,  he  became  incarnate,  partook  of  our  nature, 
and  was  made  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh. 
Not  merely  a  legal  substitute,  but  possessed  of  the  sub- 
lime and  tender  spirit  of  a  priest,  he  consented  to  be  com- 
passed with  sinless  infirmity  that  he  might  be  capable  of 
compassion  for  the  weak,  the  wandering  and  the  dying. 
An  infirm  human  being,  struggling  under  the  burden  of 
assumed  guilt,  and  confronted  by  the  terrors  of  divine 
wrath,  is  it  any  marvel  that  he  looked  forward  to  death 
not  without  fear  ?     One  of  the  most  affecting  and  pathe- 
tic passages  in  the  Scriptures  is  that  in  which  the  apos- 
tle, discoursing  of  the  priestly  sufferings  of  Jesus,  tells 
us  that  in  the  days  of  his  flesh  he  offered  up  prayers  and 
supplications  with  strong  crying  and  tears  unto  him  that 
was  able  to  save  him  from  death,  and  was  heard  in  that 
he  feared.     For  it  must  be  remembered,  that  the  form  of 
death  which  Christ  encountered,  while  it  included  the 
experience    of    our   sufferings,    embraced   incomparably 
more.      In  his   own  person,    perfectly  innocent,  and  in 
his   character  stainlessly  holy,  he  merited  intrinsically 
the  admiration  of  his  fellow-men,   and  the  approval   of 
his  God.      So  far  from  deserving  to  die,    he  was   enti- 
tled,   on  the   naked  score   of  retributive  justice,    to  the 
highest  and  most   blissful   life.     And    yet  condescend- 
ing,  in   boundless  mercy,   to  be  treated   as    putatively 
6 


82  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

guilty  for  the  sake  of  dying  men,  he  underwent  a  form 
of  death,  the  least  element  of  which  was  the  pains  of 
dissolution — a  death  which  involved  the  experience  of 
infinite  wrath  and  the  intolerable  pains  of  hell.  The 
cup  which  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Jesus  in  Gethse- 
mane  was  one  which  was  never  offered  to  any  other 
human  being  on  earth.  The  trembling  and  consterna- 
tion of  his  human  nature  as  he  took  that  chalice  of  woe, 
his  thrice -repeated  prayer  to  be  relieved,  if  possible, 
from  the  necessity  of  drinking  it,  and  the  bloody  sweat 
that  swathed  his  body  like  a  robe,  attested  an  anguish 
of  soul  which  none  but  he  w^as  ever  called  upon  to  bear. 
The  Sufferer,  who,  for  us,  expired  on  the  cross  of  Calvary, 
endured  a  species  of  death  which  was  as  singular  as  it 
was  comprehensive  and  exhaustive.  In  body,  he  suf- 
fered the  keen  and  protracted  tortures  of  crucifixion ;  and 
in  spirit,  reviled  by  foes,  deserted  by  friends  and  aban- 
doned of  God,  he  descended  alone  into  the  valley  of  the 
death-shade,  which  was  not  only  veiled  in  impenetrable 
gloom,  but  swept  by  the  tempests  of  avenging  wrath. 
Furnished  with  such  an  experience,  the  Good  Shepherd 
ministers  with  exquisite  sympathy  at  the  couch  of  the 
dying  believer.  He  knows  his  doubts,  his  apprehen- 
sions, his  fears ;  and,  moved  by  a  compassion  which 
naught  but  a  common  suffering  could  produce,  he  makes 
all  the  bed  under  the  expiring  saint,  smooths  his  last 
pillow,  and  "wipes  his  latest  tear  away." 

II.  In  the  second  place,  the  Psalmist  beautifully  por- 
trays the  consoling  influence  of  Christ's  presence  upon 
the  dying  believer  when  he  represents  the  pastoral  stafi" 
as  affording  him  protection  and  comfort.  "Thy  rod  and 
thy  staff,  they  comfort  me."  The  staff,  the  appropriate 
emblem  of  the  pastoral  office,  may  be  regarded  in  two 
aspects.     As  a  rod,  it  is  a  pow^erful  weapon  of  defence; 


CHRIST'S  PASTORAL  PRESENCE,   ETC.  83 

and  as  a  staff,  it  is  an  instrument  of  support.  It  is  at 
once,  therefore,  the  symbol  of  protecting  power  and  of 
supporting  grace.  When  at  even-tide  the  oriental  shep- 
herd had  folded  his  flock,  and  missed  from  the  number 
some  crippled  ewe  or  tender  lamb,  he  failed  not,  albeit 
through  night  and  storm,  to  go  in  quest  of  the  wanderer 
as  it  strayed  amid  the  jagged  rocks  of  the  mountain-side, 
or  the  terrors  of  the  howling  wilderness.  And  when  he 
had  found  it,  he  gathered  it  compassionately  in  his  arms, 
laid  it  upon  his  shoulders,  and  took  his  way  homeward 
rejoicing.  But  often  he  was  compelled  to  pass  through 
some  deep  and  gloomy  gorge,  infested  by  wild  beasts 
and  rendered  dangerous  by  the  swollen  torrent  dashing 
fiercely  through  it  and  making  the  passage  hazardous 
and  the  foothold  insecure.  Then,  when  from  some 
neighboring  thicket  the  young  lion  sprang  forth  and 
roared  upon  his  prey,  wielding  his  shepherd's  staff  as  a 
weapon  of  defence,  he  protected  the  precious  burden  he 
carried,  and  beat  back  the  assailant  to  his  lair ;  or,  as  he 
stepped  from  one  slippery  rock  to  another,  through  the 
rapid  current,  he  used  his  staff  as  a  supporting  prop, 
and  stayed  both  himself  and  the  feeble  wanderer  which 
he  conducted  to  the  folded  flock.  Thus  it  is,  my 
brethren,  with  the  Great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls, 
when,  in  the  night  of  death,  he  leads  the  feeble  and 
dying  members  of  his  flock  through  the  valley  of  the 
death-shade  to  the  heavenly  fold.  There  are  two  difi&- 
culties  which  the  believer  has  not  unfrequently  to  en- 
counter when  he  comes  to  die : 

In  the  first  place,  he  is  liable  to  the  last  and  desperate 
assaults  of  the  adversary  of  souls.  Baffled  by  the  power 
of  the  everlasting  covenant  in  his  attempts  to  compass 
the  destruction  of  the  believer,  he  meets  him  at  the  bed 
of  death,  and  taking  advantage  of  his  helplessness,  en- 


/ 


84  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN    PULPIT. 

deavors,  if  he  cannot  destroy  him,  to  mar  the  peace  and 
becloud  the  prospect  of  his  latest  moments  on  earth. 
He  showers  his  fiery  darts  upon  him,  injects  doubts  as 
to  his  acceptance  with  God,  conjures  up  from  the  past 
the  apparition  of  his  sins,  and  calls  up  before  his  appalled 
imagination  the  vision  of  an  angry  Judge,  a  fiery  bar,  and 
a  night  of  eternal  despair.  But  another  and  a  greater 
than  Satan  is  there.  The  Chief  Shepherd  is  also  in  that 
chamber  of  death.  Standing  at  the  dying  bedside,  and 
lifting  his  pastoral  staff  as  a  rod  of  defence,  he  wards  off 
from  his  agonized  servant  the  incursions  of  the  powers 
of  darkness,  and  beats  back  the  assaults  ot  his  satanic 
foes. 

Another  difficulty  which  is  apt  to  disturb  the  peace  of 
the  departing  believer  is  derived  from  his  vivid  remem- 
brance of  his  sins,  and  his  consequent  fear  that  he  is  not 
prepared  to  meet  his  God.  In  the  solemn  and  honest 
hour  of  death,  his  soul,  conscious  of  its  dread  proximity 
to  the  judgment  seat,  takes  a  minute  and  impartial  sur- 
vey of  the  past.  His  memory,  quickened  into  an  energy 
which  only  death  can  impart,  with  lightning  rapidity 
sweeps,  as  at  a  glance,  the  whole  field  of  his  earthly 
history.  There  is  no  glozing  process  then  by  which  the 
hideous  features  of  his  sins  can  be  painted  or  concealed ; 
no  apology  for  his  crimes  which  will  stand  the  scrutiny 
of  the  death-bed,  or  abide  the  breaking  light  of  the  eter- 
nal world.  All  his  acts  of  youthful  folly,  all  his  broken 
vows,  all  his  unredeemed  promises  to  his  God,  all  his 
fearful  backslidings,  all  his  sinful  thoughts,  words  and 
deeds,  now  crowd  into  his  dying  chamber,  throng  around 
his  dying  bed,  and  threaten  to  go  with  him  as  swift  wit- 
nesses against  him  before  the  final  bar.  The  billows  of  a 
fiercer  death  than  that  of  the  body  dash  over  his  head,  and, 
struggling  in  the  torrent  which  threatens  to  sweep  him 


CHRIST  S  PASTORAL  PRESENCE,   ETC.  85 

through  the  last  valley  downward  to  a  bottomless  abyss, 
he  cries  in  his  extremity  to  the  Redeemer  of  his  soul. 
Never  deaf  to  the  appeals  of  his  dying  people,  the  (jreat 
Shepherd  hastens  to  his  relief  with  the  succors  of  his  sup- 
porting grace.  He  whispers  to  the  sinking  believer  that 
he  died  to  save  him,  that  his  blood  has  cleansed  him  of  all 
his  sins,  and  that  his  perfect  righteousnes,  his  atoning 
merit,  is  a  ground  of  acceptance,  a  foundation  that  will 
not  fail  him  when  the  wicked  and  unbelieving  shall  be 
driven  from  the  divine  presence  like  the  chaff  before  the 
storm.  It  is  enough.  The  dying  believer,  with  the 
hand  of  faith,  grasps  the  pastoral  staff  that  Jesus  thus 
extends  to  him,  and,  leaning  upon  it,  passes  in  safety 
through  the  glooms  and  dangers  of  the  death-shade, 
emerges  into  the  light  of  heaven,  and  is  satisfied  with 
the  beatific  vision  of  God. 

Fellow-travellers  to  the  dark  valley,  let  us  beUeve  in 
Jesus  as  our  Saviour.  Let  us  put  our  trust  ni  him  as 
the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  our  souls.  So  when  we  are 
called  to  die,  no  guilty  conscience  will  break  our  peace, 
no  condemning  law  will  thunder  upon  us,  no  frowns  of 
an  angry  Judge  will  deepen  the  awful  shadow  of  death  ; 
but  we  will  fear  no  evil,  for  Christ  will  be  with  us; 
his  rod  will  protect  us  in  our  last  conflict,  his  stafl"  will 
support  us  in  our  latest  pang. 


THH  PITILESSNESS  OF  SIN. 

BY  RHV.  J.   B.  STRATTON,   D.   D., 
Pastor  {Emeritus)  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Natchez,  Miss. 


"Then  Judas,  which  had  betrayed  him,  when  he  saw  that  he 
was  condemned,  repented  himself,  and  brought  again  the  thirty- 
pieces  of  silver  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders,  saying,  I  have 
sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent  blood.  And  they 
said,  What  is  that  to  us?  see  thou  to  that.  And  he  cast  down 
the  pieces  of  silver  in  the  temple,  and  departed,  and  went  and 
hanged  himself." — Matt,  xxvii.  3,  4,  5. 

THERE  is  a  use  to  be  made  of  this  incident,  lying 
outside  of  its  direct  bearings,  which  it  may  be  well 
to  glance  at  as  we  approach  the  study  of  it.  That 
Judas  spoke  rationally  and  truly,  in  the  confession  which 
he  here  makes,  cannot  be  questioned.  According  to  the 
judgment  of  that  arbiter  which  presides  in  the  breast  of 
every  man,  he  took  the  right  view  of  his  conduct ;  he 
had  an  adequate  ground  for  his  self-condemnation  and 
despair.  He  had  sinned.  He  had  not  been  made  to  sin. 
He  had  done  freely,  voluntarily,  what  he  had  done  in 
betraying  the  innocent  blood.  It  does  not  occur  to  him 
to  say  that  he  had  been  unfortunate ;  that  he  had  been 
the  victim  of  fate,  or  the  irresponsible  tool  of  a  higher 
power.  "  I,  I  only,  have  sinned"  is  his  confession; 
and  any  unbiassed  mind  which  looks  at  his  crime  will 
endorse  the  confession.  He  stands  guilty  at  the  bar  of 
every  unprejudiced  observer  from  the  day  that  he  ap- 
peared before  the  Jewish  court,  till  now. 

And  yet,  what  Peter  said,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  in 

86 


'ten 

■  -':er 


■^;.eC06U^ 


THE  PITILESSNESS  OF  SIN.  87 

regard  to  the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  ' '  Him  being  deliv- 
ered, by  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of 
God,  ye  have  taken  and  by  wicked  hands  have  crucified 
and  slain,"  he  might  have  said  of  Judas'  part  in  the 
transaction.  "The  determinate  counsel  and  foreknow- 
ledge of  God, ' '  which  made  the  Redeemer's  death  certain, 
included  in  them  all  the  steps  which  led  to  the  event. 
And  yet,  no  one  doubts  that  it  was  with  '  *  w/cked  hands  ' ' 
the  Jewish  rulers  did  their  work;  and  no  one  doubts 
that  Judas  ' '  sinned ' '  in  the  aid  which  he  rendered  them 
in  the  doing  of  it. 

You  have  here  the  problem  of  the  coincidence  of  God's 
sovereignty  and  man's  freedom  in  his  acts  and  his  re- 
sponsibility for  them,  solved  by  the  spectacle  of  the  fact. 
The  two  agencies  are  seen,  in  this  instance,  actually  co- 
inciding— forming  like  two  separate  cords — the  unity  of 
a  knot.  Speculative  science,  formal  logic  may  say  the 
knot  cannot  be  tied.  In  spite  of  all  their  affirmations,  it 
appears  here,  visibly  tied.  The  philosopher's  theories  or 
arguments  do  not  make  facts.  Facts  do  not  wait  for 
these,  in  order  to  command  the  acceptance  of  men.  A 
well-established  fact,  in  the  face  of  the  dissent  of  science 
and  logic,  may  say  the  difficulty  is  with  you.  A  fact, 
inexplicable  by  your  methods,  is  simply  a  truth  standing 
on  an  altitude  above  the  reach  of  your  ladders. 

The  fact,  revealed  to  us  here,  in  the  case  of  Judas,  is 
a  collateral  light  thrown  upon  a  subject  upon  which  the 
minds  of  most  of  us  are  probably,  often  painfully,  and 
yet  unnecessarily  exercised. 

There  is  still  another  direction  in  which  this  incident 
may  be  used  to  lift  from  the  religion  of  Christ  a  reproach 
which  is  sometimes  thrown  upon  it.  The  existence  of 
spurious  members  in  the  church  is  no  impeachment  of 
the  claim  of  the  gospel  to  be  a  regenerating  and  sancti- 


88  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTKKIAN   PULPIT. 

fying  power  amongst  men.  That  there  should  have 
been  a  traitor  in  the  original  body  of  twelve  disciples, 
and  by  the  permission  of  an  omniscient  Master,  may  sur- 
prise us.  But  the  fact  meets  us.  It  was  so.  The  great 
Husbandman  allowed  tares  to  grow  up  with  the  wheat, 
but  the  seeming  anomaly  does  not  prove  that  the  wheat 
was  tares  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  makes  it  more  evi- 
dent that  the  wheat  was  wheat.  A  wise  foresight  on 
the  part  of  its  Head,  of  the  condition  of  the  material  out 
of  which  his  church  was  to  be  formed,  may  be  discovered 
in  this  arrangement.  A  Judas— a  counterfeit  disciple — 
may  have  been  admitted  into  the  family  of  his  followers, 
in  order  that  all  the  other  members  might  be  led  to  the 
watchfulness  which  asks  perpetually,  "Is  it  I  ?  "  and  to 
the  self-distrust  which  keeps  them  constantly  mindful  of 
the  Master's  counsel:  "Follow  me!"  Occasional  in- 
stances of  perfidy  on  the  part  of  professed  Christians  is  no 
more  a  proof  that  Christianity  is  a  pretence  or  a  failure 
than  persecution  is ;  and  the  Saviour  may  have  allowed 
a  traitor  to  appear  thus  early  in  the  history  of  the  church, 
as  he  did  the  persecutor,  in  order  that  his  servants  in  all 
ages  might  be  forewarned  of  the  perils  which  lay  in  their 
path  and  of  their  need  of  divine  grace  to  uphold  them  in 
their  steadfastness. 

Passing  now  to  the  more  direct  teachings  of  the  text, 
I  remark,  first,  that  the  case  of  Judas  gives  us  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  p07ver  of  a  sinful  lust,  chc?  ished  in  the 
heart,  to  blind  the  mind  to  the  character  of  the  passion  aiid 
to  the  cojisequences  n'hich  issue  f?'07n  it.  It  is  a  matter  of 
common  consciousness  (though  men  seem  very  gener- 
ally to  overlook  it)  that  the  impressions  we  get  of  things 
are  due  very  largely  to  the  condition  of  the  organs 
through  which  we  deal  with  them.  A  diseased  e3^e  will 
give  you  a  wrong  idea  of  the  color,  form,  or  size  of  an 


THE  PITILESSNESS  OF  SIN.  89 

object.  There  is  more  foundation  than  most  people  are 
aware  of  for  the  apparently  extravagant  proposition  that 
every  man  makes  his  own  world.  Certain  it  is  that  the 
aspect  under  which  the  world  presents  itself  to  him  will 
be  determined  very  much  by  his  own  subjective  state. 
Before  your  view  of  a  thing  can  be  accepted  as  right, 
you  must  be  sure  that  the  instrument  through  which 
you  are  looking  at  it  is  true,  and  that  your  medium  is  a 
clear  one.  Carry  with  you  in  your  heart  a  vicious  lust, 
and  it  will  be  in  you  like  a  smoking  furnace,  the  fumes 
of  which  will  becloud  your  intellect  and  immerse  you  in 
an  atmosphere  of  illusions.  It  has  in  it  a  wizard's 
power,  and  can,  to  your  eyes,  change  darkness  into 
light,  bitter  into  sweet,  and  evil  into  good.  What  a 
terrible  disenchantment  there  was  to  Judas  when  he  saw 
his  Master  actually  condemned  to  death !  His  over- 
whelming distress  shows  that  the  possibility  of  such  an 
issue  had  never  been  distinctly  realized  by  him  ;  or  if  so, 
that  he  had  persuaded  himself  that  Jesus,  by  some  exer- 
tion of  his  power,  could  extricate  himself  from  the  hands 
of  his  enemies.  But  look  at  him  now,  when  sign  after 
sign  of  humiliation  is  revealing  the  sufferer's  weakness, 
and  forboding  the  fact  that  his  innocent  blood,  through 
his  agency,  was  to  be  shed !  The  spell  which  had  be- 
numbed his  reason,  is  broken.  His  silver  has  lost  its 
lustre.  His  eyes  have  been  open  to  the  enormity  of  his 
crime.  Do  you  wonder  that  he  cast  down  his  treasure 
in  the  temple,  and  departed  and  hanged  himself? 

My  friends,  this  is  no  poetic  fiction — no  dramatic  pic- 
ture af  avenging  justice.  It  is  a  record  of  every  day's 
experience.  It  is  a  fair  exposition  of  the  blinding  and 
stupifying  effect  of  corrupt  passion.  It  is  a  representa- 
tion of  what  I  may  call,  the  pitilessness  of  sin.  From 
the  first,  its  work  is  one  of  moral  mutilation.     It  steals 


90  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

into  the  heart,  and  then  puts  out  the  eyes  of  the  soul. 
It  is  repeating,  in  a  thousand  instances,  the  same  cruel 
torture  which  Nebuchadnezzar  inflicted  upon  Zedekiah, 
the  captive  king  of  Judah.  Intent  upon  the  gratification 
of  his  desires,  the  victim  of  lust  loses  his  capacity  to 
estimate  the  true  nature  of  what  he  covets,  or  the  ability 
to  look  on  to  the  end  of  his  pursuit  of  it.  The  forbidden 
fruit  seems  fair  to  his  sight  and  inviting  to  his  appetite, 
and  in  his  eagerness  to  enjoy  it,  he  ceases  to  regard  the 
deadly  consequences  which  may  lie  behind  indulgence. 
"In  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely 
die,"  may  be  written  by  the  finger  of  God  full  in  view, 
but  he  does  not  see  the  threat,  or  he  does  not  understand 
the  meaning  of  it.  If  you  have  ever  watched  the  opera- 
tions of  your  own  minds  when  under  the  influence  of  some 
strong  inclination,  you  will  have  observed  how  completely 
they  have  been  warped  and  biassed  in  favor  of  everything 
which  encouraged  your  wishes,  and  against  everything 
which  opposed  them.  The  point  of  gratification  has 
been  the  point  of  attraction.  Everything  in  the  way  of 
disaster  or  suffering  lying  in  the  rear  of  gratification  has 
been  reduced  in  magnitude,  or  has  been  attenuated  into 
a  filmy  indistinctness,  till  it  has  hardly  been  seen  at  all. 
Now,  just  this  species  of  hallucination  attends  the 
practice  of  sin  in  all  forms.  How  strong  the  passion 
which  engenders  it  is,  may  be  inferred  from  the  difficulty 
there  is  in  persuading  men  to  give  it  up.  It  is  paralyz- 
ing as  the  frost  of  winter  and  freezes  the  faculties  of  the 
soul  into  motionless  ice.  Thought,  sensibility,  sym- 
pathy, are  congealed  by  it.  It  encrusts  the  nature  of  its 
subject  with  the  hardness  of  the  nether  millstone.  It 
pays  its  wages,  "death,"  to  its  votary  in  advance — be- 
fore his  soul  leaves  his  body,  because  it  extinguishes 
within  him  every  instinct  and   element  of  a  true  and 


THE  PITILESSNESS  OF  SIN. 


91 


generous  manhood.  Judas,  under  the  influence  of  it, 
could  see  more  worth  in  a  few  pieces  of  coin  than  in 
his  divine  Lord.  The  drunkard,  under  the  infatuation 
of  his  appetite,  grows  blind  to  the  fact  that  his  intemper- 
ate courses  are  bringing  his  family  to  beggary  and  him- 
self to  shame  and  the  grave.  And  this  moral  enfeeble- 
ment,  let  me  add,  is  just  as  real  in  the  case  of  the  decent, 
respectable  transgressor  as  in  that  of  these  more  flagrant 
offenders.  It  is  the  love  of  sin  which  makes  the  sinner, 
whatever  be  the  form  in  which  that  love  expresses  itself. 
And  love,  in  the  nature  of  it,  is  devotion,  servitude.  It 
takes  captive  its  subjects.  St.  Paul  calls  all  godless 
men,  "servants,"  or,  as  the  word  means,  slaves  "of 
sin."  They  are  slaves.  They  are  fettered  bondsmen, 
whether  their  chains  be  the  iron  ones  of  the  tenants  of 
the  slum,  or  the  golden  ones  of  the  worshipper  of  Mam- 
mon, or  the  silken  ones  of  the  devotee  of  pleasure.  The 
love  of  sin  ensures  the  result  that  the  man  does  not  zt-^;// 
to  be  separated  from  the  thing  he  loves,  and  has  no 
capacity  to  appreciate  the  reasons  which  would  urge  him 
to  separate  from  it.  In  the  misty  way  in  which  the 
admonitions  and  warnings  of  God's  word  appear  to  him, 
he  sees  nothing  in  them  to  alarm  him,  or  nothing  which 
a  little  ready  sophistry  cannot  strip  of  its  force.  He  can 
relieve  himself  of  all  uneasiness  by  saying,  that  his  form 
of  indulgence  is  a  harmless  thing,  a  light  effervescence 
of  exuberant  vitality  which  means  no  wrong ;  or  he  can 
argue  that  God  is  too  good  and  merciful  to  notice  or 
punish  the  petty  frailties  of  his  creatures  ;  or  he  can  con- 
strue the  threatenings  of  Scripture  into  poetical  extrava- 
gances, designed  to  intimidate  the  vulgar  multitude; 
and  so  he  encourages  himself  in  the  pursuit  of  the  things 
he  loves  by  dreams  of  security  as  false  as  those  by  which 
Judas  was  beguiled. 


92  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

But  Judas,  as  we  see  in  our  text,  awoke  from  his 
dreams,  and  in  the  light  which  fell  upon  his  opened 
eyes,  illusions  vanished,  and  things  stood  before  him  in 
their  naked  reality.  You  know  the  result  of  the  revela- 
tion. I  have  no  heart,  no  power  to  analyze  its  contents. 
But  does  uAt  the  question  press  itself  upon  us  :  may  not 
the  sinner,  in  every  case,  awake  from  his  dreams? 
Dreams  cannot  last  always.  The  honest  waking  hour 
must  come  sometime.  Oh,  surely  the  fate  of  the  traitor 
in  that  awful  moment  when  he  saw  what  he  had  been  do- 
ing, ought  to  startle  every  man  loving  sin  and  living  in 
the  service  of  it,  like  a  thunder-peal.  The  enchantments 
which  evil  lust  throw  around  the  soul  must  be  dissi- 
pated sooner  or  later,  for  truth  must  win  in  its  conflict 
with  error.  There  are  consequences  to  follow  a  life  of 
ungodliness.  The  Bible  says  so,  and  its  testimony  is 
infinitely  more  worthy  of  the  credit  of  a  reasonable  man 
than  can  be  the  biassed  utterances  of  a  heart  debauched 
by  the  love  of  sin.  The  spectacle  of  Judas'  anguish  and 
despair  at  the  close  of  his  experimenting  should  settle 
that  point  forever. 

A  second  fact,  suggested  by  the  text,  is  that  sinful 
affections^  cheyished  in  connection  7vith  favorable  opportuni- 
ties ^  for  knowing  and  doing  one^ s  duty^  may  be  expected  to 
grow  with  rapidity  and  to  attaint  to  an  extraordifiary 
intensity.  We  shall  probably  be  safe  in  supposing  that 
when  Judas  first  began  to  follow  Christ,  the  thought  of 
betraying  him  to  death  for  a  sum  of  money  would  have 
filled  him  with  horror.  But  after  the  lapse  of  three  years 
he  could  do  this  atrocious  deed.  For  during  those  three 
years,  in  spite  of  all  the  counsels  of  Jesus  and  the  attrac- 
tions of  his  holy  example,  leading  him  to  self-denial  and  a 
low  esteem  for  worldly  possessions,  we  find  him  retaining 
unimpaired,  what  we  may  assume  to  have  been  his  original 


THE  PITILESSNESS  OF  SIN. 


93 


greed  for  wealth.  His  opportunities  for  cultivating  pious 
sentiments  and  principles  were  peculiar.  But  his  ruling 
passion  withstood  them  all,  and  in  the  course  of  time 
became  strong  enough  to  induce  him  to  make  the  base 
proposal  to  the  Jewish  priests,  "What  will  ye  give  me, 
and  I  will  deliver  him  unto  you  ?  ' '  And  such  a  result 
was  entirely  natural.  His  propensity  to  avarice  gained 
strength,  his  conscience  became  blunted  every  time  he 
refused  to  give  up  his  besetting  lust  under  the  admonitions 
and  reproofs  of  his  Master.  He  became  a  worse  man 
rapidly  by  opposing  the  influences  which  were  striving 
to  make  him  a  good  man ;  and,  finally,  no  extreme  was 
too  great  for  him  to  reach  in  the  indulgence  of  his  pro- 
pensity. This  tallies  with  common  experience.  Do  you 
not  know  that  you  are  adding  to  the  strength  of  your 
limbs  every  time  that  you  lift  from  the  ground  or  throw 
down  to  the  ground  the  bearrier  that  obstructs  your 
way  ?  Men  who  will  hold  on  to  their  sinful  passions 
and  persist  in  leading  a  sinful  life,  in  the  face  of  the 
opportunities  and  facilities  for  repentance  and  amend- 
ment which  the  gospel  affords,  rapidly  lose  their  moral 
sensibility  and  succumb  to  the  mastery  of  their  love  of 
sin.  They  have  resisted  so  much  in  prosecuting  their 
evil  courses,  that  the  impulse  acquired  will  carr>'  them 
onward  to  the  last  point  of  indulgence.  The  gospel, 
thus,  which  they  would  not  allow  to  be  a  savor  of  life 
unto  life,  becomes  a  savor  of  death  unto  death.  The 
love  of  money,  inordinately  cherished,  I  doubt  not,  has 
operated  in  the  case  of  many  another  man,  just  as  it  did 
in  Judas'.  It  has  led  him,  at  first,  to  blind  his  mind  to, 
and  steel  his  heart  against,  the  claims  of  religion,  till  he 
has  gone  a  certain  length,  perhaps  a  moderate  one,  in 
the  gratification  of  his  desire  to  be  rich.  Then  he  has 
repeated  the  process,  and  again  and  again  repeated  it. 


94  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

He  has  held  on  to  his  guilty  purpose  though  the  whole 
enginery  of  gospel  motives  has  been  laboring  at  his 
heart,  to  force  it  towards  God  and  heaven.  At  the 
outset,  probably,  his  feelings  were  tender  on  the  subject 
of  religion,  and  nothing  would  have  shocked  him  more 
than  to  be  told  that  he  could  ever  sacrifice  his  Saviour 
for  gold.  But  years  pass  on,  in  the  heated  pursuit  of 
wealth  and  in  obstinate  resistance  to  Christ's  warnings 
and  counsels,  and  what  is  the  result?  His  position  is 
fixed.  He  has  become  petrified  as  Lot's  wife.  The  last 
kindly  thought  of  Jesus  is  gone.  The  last  inclination 
towards  religion  has  ceased  to  throb  in  his  soul;  and 
though  he  does  not  say  it,  and  though  he  has  never 
deliberately  formed  the  purpose,  yet  the  purpose  is  formed 
as  positively  and  as  inflexibly  as  though  it  were  signed 
and  sealed,  to  part  with  Christ  for  the  golden  equivalent 
for  which  his  heart  has  lusted.  And  what  is  true  of 
this  craving  for  riches  is  true  in  regard  to  every  sinful 
appetite  which  men  have  persisted  in  indulging,  in  de- 
fiance of  the  remonstrances  and  threatenings  of  the 
gospel.  The  result  it  is  always  preparing  to  bring  them 
to  is  such  an  infatuated  devotion,  such  an  abject  bondage, 
to  the  thing  craved,  that  the  abandonment  of  the  Saviour, 
and  the  loss  of  the  soul  do  not  seem  too  great  a  sacrifice 
to  secure  the  object.  O  ye,  who  are  sitting  to-day  under 
the  ministry  of  the  blessed  Jesus  as  he  speaks  to  you  in 
his  word,  and  are  yet  putting  off  attending  to  the  duties 
he  urges  upon  you,  through  the  solicitations  of  some 
sinful  passion,  will  you  not  remember  Judas?  Your 
passion  will  master  you  before  you  are  aware,  as  the 
traitor's  did  him  ;  and  may  present  you  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat, as  guilty  of  selling  your  Lord,  as  he  was  ! 

And  now  I  ask  you  in  the  third  place  to  reflect  how 
miserably  poor  and  mean  all  these  objects  of  cor?  upt  desire y 


THE  PITILESSNESS  OF  SIN.  qc 

supposing  them  to  be  possessed,  must  appear,  when  contem- 
plated intelligejitly ,  in  con7iectio7i  with  the  consequences  to 
ivhich  the  ptirstdt  of  them  mtist  lead  you.  Let  Judas  again 
become  your  teacher  here  !  Look  at  him  as  he  throws 
his  bribe,  with  loathing  upon  the  temple  floor !  Was  it 
not  the  very  thing,  the  very  sum,  all  told,  in  genuine 
coin,  for  which,  a  little  while  ago,  he  was  so  eagerly 
clutching,  and  for  which  he  promised  so  eagerly  to  de- 
liver up  his  Master  ?  Why  has  that  which  seemed  so 
precious  then  become  so  worthless  now?  Ah!  Judas 
has  got  what  he  bargained  for,  but  he  has  got  something 
more.  He  has  got  his  mind  open  to  a  distinct  percep- 
tion of  the  guilt  and  ruin  which  his  prize  has  cost  him. 
And  hence  the  glitter  of  his  silver  has  become  dim,  and 
its  value  has  departed. 

And  so  it  must,  sooner  or  later,  be  with  all  who  con- 
sent, for  any  earthly  gratification,  to  surrender  the  bene- 
fits of  Christ  and  his  great  salvation.  When  the  wrong 
they  have  done  to  the  Saviour,  and  the  utter  bankruptcy 
they  have  inflicted  upon  their  own  souls  by  such  conduct, 
become  distinctly  revealed  to  them,  as  they  may  be  at  a 
dying  hour,  and  as  they  certainly  will  be  at  the  judg- 
ment day,  how  will  they,  too,  fling  to  the  dust  the  ac- 
cursed baubles  which  have  beguiled  them  into  such  fatal 
madness  ! 

And  still  further  let  us  ask,  what  comfort  will  the  ivicked 
draw  in  the  hour  of  their  distress  from  the  objects  which 
they  have  sefved  in  sacfificing  Chfisi?  Judas,  when  re- 
morse had  seized  him,  came  to  the  chief  priests  and 
elders,  hoping,  probably,  that  the  sight  of  his  contrition 
and  agony  might  appeal,  at  least,  to  their  humanity  and 
secure  some  change  in  their  treatment  of  Christ.  But 
he  was  dealing  with  monsters.  They  had  gained  their 
purpose  through  his  agency,    and  what  cared  they  for 


Cj6  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

him?  Vainly  he  made  the  hall  ring  with  his  protesta- 
tions, **It  is  innocent  blood  which  I  have  betrayed." 
"What  is  that  to  us?"  was  the  reply.  "See  thou  to 
that !  ' '  Your  guilt  is  your  own  concern ;  bear  it  as  you 
can  !  And  is  this  all  the  solace  which  the  servant  of  sin 
can  expect  from  the  master  whom  he  has  been  so  sedu- 
lously serving?  A  multitude  of  Judases,  whom  no  man 
can  number,  answer,  Yes.  I  can  conceive  of  the  slave 
of  drink  personifying  the  vicious  appetite  to  which  he 
has  subjected  himself,  and  in  some  moment  of  remorse, 
appealing  to  it  for  pity,  for  release  from  its  grasp,  for  his 
wife's  sake,  for  his  children's  sake,  for  the  sake  of  the 
innocent  blood  which  it  is  causing  him  to  shed ;  and  I 
can  conceive  of  the  cruel  response  which  he  would  re- 
ceive, "What  is  that  to  me?  see  thou  to  that.  Your 
position  is  of  your  own  choosing.  Make  the  best  of  it 
that  you  can  !  ' '  And  there  is  no  other  reply  which  the 
devil,  or  the  world,  or  the  flesh,  or  wicked  men,  or  any- 
thing that  the  sinner  may  be  said  to  have  served  by  his 
lusts,  will  ever  give  him.  What  response  can  the  man 
who  has  taken  a  viper  into  his  bosom,  and  who  is  writh- 
ing under  the  torture  of  its  fangs,  expect  to  his  cries  for 
compassion  but  a  hiss  of  derision  ?  Oh  !  these  passions 
which  lead  the  soul  to  deliver  up  its  Saviour  are  pitiless 
things  !  They  first  seduce  their  victim,  and  then  mock 
at  his  woes.  They  answer  all  his  complaints  and  en- 
treaties with  the  taunt,  "What  is  that  to  us?  See  thou 
to  that ! ' '  And  this  will  be  all  the  comfort  they  will 
ever  offer  him,  either  on  earth  or  in  eternity. 

There  is  one  truth  more  included  in  our  text  which  I 
must  not  overlook.  It  is  this :  that  i/iere  7naj  be  a  re- 
pentance, consisting  of  a  conviction  of  sin  and  of  remorse 
on  accoimt  of  it,  ivhich  fails  to  bring  to  the  subject  of  it  any 
relief  from  his  distress ^  or  deliverance  f 7  om  his  despair. 


THE  PITILESSNESS  OF  SIN. 


97 


Judas,  it  is  said,  "repented  himself."  He  had  convic- 
tion and  remorse ;  but  he  did  not  repent  with  that  re- 
pentance which  is  "unto  life."  This  is  the  gift  of  God 
by  his  Spirit;  and  Judas,  in  parting  with  Christ,  had 
parted  with  the  ground  upon  which,  and  the  channel 
through  which,  all  God's  saving  gifts  are  bestowed. 
And  he  had  quenched  that  Holy  Spirit  by  whose  aid 
alone  men  can  be  renewed  unto  repentance. 

My  friends,  we  make  a  great  mistake  when  we  sup- 
pose that  any  uneasiness  which  we  may  feel  at  a  retro- 
spect of  our  sins,  will  bring  us  the  boon  ofifered  to  re- 
pentance in  the  gospel,  or  that  repentance  is  such  a 
thing  of  the  will  and  the  lip  that  it  can  be  practiced 
whenever  we  choose.  There  is  a  sorrow  for  sin,  the 
Bible  tells  us,  which  is  "  of  the  world, "  and  "worketh 
death."  It  is  the  sorrow  of  nature,  entertained  under 
the  coercion  of  shame,  and  suffering,  and  terror.  The 
sorrow  which  leads  to  life  is  a  "godly  sorrow" — a  sor- 
row born  of  a  recognition  of  God  in  Christ,  producing  in 
the  soul  a  sense  of  the  intrinsic  evil  of  sin,  and  a  loath- 
ing of  it  as  an  offence  done  to  God  and  his  holy  law,  and 
a  desire  to  be  delivered  from  its  vileness  and  guiltiness, 
and  a  dependence  upon  the  grace  purchased  for  sinful 
men  through  Christ's  mediation  and  propitiation.  Mere 
remorse,  mere  terror,  do  not  produce  such  a  sorrow. 
Judas  had  these,  and  yet  Judas  perished.  It  is  not  easy 
to  get  it,  as  it  would  be  if  it  were  merely  the  cancelling 
of  a  bargain  when  one  finds  it  about  to  involve  him  in 
loss.  It  is  gotten  through  a  resort  to  the  interposition  of 
Christ  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  just  as  any  man  con- 
tinues to  separate  himself  from  Christ  by  obeying  his  evil 
lusts,  and  continues  to  resist  the  Holy  Spirit  by  asking 
a  little  and  a  little  longer  indulgence  in  his  evil  courses, 
he  is  making  it  more  and  more  probable  that  the  repen- 
7 


9.8  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

tance  which  is  associated  with  pardon  and  reconciliation 
to  God  he  will  never  get.  This  solemn  lesson  Judas  is 
teaching  us  to-day.  "Beware,"  we  may  hear  him  say- 
ing * '  of  trifling  with  the  patience  and  mercy  of  God  till 
there  is  no  other  repentance  possible  for  you  than  that  of 
unassisted  nature — the  deadly  sorrow  of  a  soul  that  has 
gained  a  sight  of  the  guilt  and  the  consequences  of  its 
sin,  and  has  lost  the  sight  of  its  Saviour." 

Here  we  must  take  leave  of  this  painful  theme.  It 
spreads  before  us  a  volume  rather  than  a  text.  We  have 
drawm  enough  from  its  dark  pages  to  know  that  their 
contents  are  infinitely  important.  My  dear  friends,  if 
you  will  ponder  them  seriously  as  you  ought,  that  lurid 
beacon -light  w^hich  the  apostate's  perfidy  and  doom  have 
kindled  in  the  far  gloom  of  the  past  will  be  for  you  a 
salutary  vision,  a  signal  to  point  you  to  holiness  and 
heaven.  May  God  help  us  all  to  be  so  startled  and  ad- 
monished by  it,  that  the  torturing  convictions,  the  un- 
availing regrets,  the  despairing  lamentations,  which 
gathered  around  the  suicide  of  Judas,  may  never  be  re- 
peated at  our  dying  hour ! 


The  HAPPY  SI  Kvu? 


An  Expository  Sertnon  Preach 
Regiment . 

BY  R.   L.   DABN 


"Come  unto  m.;'.  all  ye  that  labor 
will  give  you  re;  t  Take  my  yc4i.'. 
for  I  am  meek  aj  lowly  in  heart  . 
your  sotils.  For  ; ay  yoke  is  e:as>- 
Matt.  xi.  28-30. 

THIS  work',  Tuy  breth! 
you  think  (u't  so,   I  ca;; 
enced  yoiuLs,  who  are  ^v- 
set  out  on  a  toil-r>iiie  jouri 
its  real  characl», ;    suppose  it  t;. 
adjuncts  of  the  h^^ur  of  setting  . 
are  in  raptures  v  Kh  the  free  '.■ 
their  own  exuberant  energies, 
of  dewy    mom,    with  the    iiel 
pearls,  with  the  eastern  sky  ba 
and   with   the   beams  of  t' 
along  the  way  in  sport,  v 
will  sorely  need  ere  nighi 
hours  of  the  afternoon,   u 
have   put   on  its   fer\4d  1. 
miles,   the  thirst,    and  hunger 
which  they  must  drag  them.seh 
goal  which  seems  e\  ef  to  recede 
But  no  man  lives  long  enoug 
is,  without  reaching  the  convi. 
world.     We   "labor  and  are  ]i 


1 


lOO  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTKRIAN   PULPIT. 

cious  and  timely,  then,  is  the  promise  of  rest  to  such 
beings  ?  Many  of  you  are  weary  and  burdened  with  the 
impossible  endeavor  to  feed  an  immortal  mind  with 
earthly  food.  Some  perhaps  are  heavy  laden  with  their 
toils  of  self- righteousness,  while  they  go  about  to  establish 
their  own  acceptance  with  God,  grievously  galled  by  an 
uneasy,  disapproving  conscience.  A  few,  I  trust,  are 
laboring  with  the  salutary  burden  of  conviction  for  sin,  and 
conscious  guilt.  Some  of  you  are  wearying  yourselves 
in  vain,  with  the  effort  to  break  your  bondage  under  sin 
in  your  own  strength.  God's  people  among  you  are  op- 
pressed with  the  "heat  and  burden  of  the  day,"  while 
they  strive,  painfully,  yet  with  better  heart  and  hope, 
"to  make  their  calling  and  election  sure."  Many  are 
crushed  with  sorrows  and  bereavements,  or  with  anxie- 
ties and  fears.  All  these  are  invited  by  the  benevolent 
Redeemer  to  come  and  find  rest  in  him.  Whatever  may 
be  their  burden,  he  promises  a  gracious  relief.  How 
general,  then,  ought  the  interest  in  these  divine  words  to 
be ;  and  how  eager  ? 

When  we  are  invited,  * '  come  unto  me, ' '  we  under- 
stand, of  course,  that  this  coming  is  not  a  corporeal  ap- 
proach to  Christ's  local  habitation,  which  is  not  possible 
for  us,  in  the  flesh,  nor  necessary ;  but  the  embracing  of 
his  redemption  by  faith.  This  usage  of  the  word  is  too 
well  established  in  our  Saviour's  preaching  to  need 
much  illustration.  When,  for  instance,  he  says  (John 
vi.  35),  "  he  that  cometh  to  me  shall  never  hunger;  and 
he  that  belie veth  on  me  shall  never  thirst, ' '  the  coming 
is  manifestly  faith.  The  yoke  which  we  are  to  take  up 
is  the  service  of  Christ.  And  when  rest  is  promised  to 
those  who  believe,  and  who  obey,  it  is  not  bodily  indo- 
lence, or  sensual  ease,  which  the  Saviour  offers,  but 
inward  peace.     He  himself  defines  it  in  the  subsequent 


THE  HAPPY  SERVICE.  lOl 

words,  as  "rest  to  our  souls."  He  may  call  us  to 
stormy  trials  for  his  sake  ;  he  assuredly  will  call  us  to 
diligent,  persevering  labors  for  his  cause  ;  but  he  guar- 
antees to  us  that  sweet  repose  of  soul,  with  which  out- 
ward toils  are  light,  and  without  which  the  ease  and 
prosperity  of  sin  are  but  a  mocking  torture.  The  main 
doctrine  taught  us,  then,  in  this  passage,  is,  that— 

First,   Our  Peace  is  to  be  found  in  embracing  Christ  and 
his  service  by  faith. 

At  the  threshold  of  the  subject,  we  are  met  by  this 
inquiry  :  Who  is  it  that  makes  this  generous  oifer  of  rest 
to  all  the  weary  and  heavy  laden  of  earth  ?  Consider 
how  much  is  implied  in  it.  To  fulfil  the  obligation 
which  is  thus  assumed  will  require  no  small  resources  of 
wealth,  power,  and  love.  To  succor  the  multitudinous 
evils  of  humanity  is,  indeed,  a  mighty  undertaking.  Let 
us  suppose  that  the  mightiest  emperor  of  earth,  or  the 
most  powerful  angel  in  heaven,  had  ventured  such  an 
invitation  as  this,  and  that  it  had  been  universally 
accepted.  Before  this  vast  aggregate  of  the  wants  and 
woes  of  men,  his  resources  would  seem  to  shrink  into  a 
mite,  and  the  greatest  finite  mind  would  reel  and  stagger 
in  the  mere  attempt  to  comprehend,  as  all  created  riches 
would  be  absorbed  a  thousand  times  in  relieving  the 
mighty  mass.  Who  is  this,  then,  that  calmly  stands  up 
and  announces  to  his  dying  race  the  audacious  proposal  ? 
"Come  one,  come  all,  to  me;  and  /will  give  you  rest." 
Is  this  the  Nazarene,  the  carpenter's  son  ;  the  man  who 
' '  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head  ' '  ?  How  dare  he  pledge 
to  suffering  mankind,  he,  in  his  beggary,  a  relief  which 
Caesar,  upon  the  throne  of  imperial  Rome,  with  all  the 
legions  of  her  armies  bowing  to  his  sceptre,  and  all  the 
nations  of  the  civilized  globe  pouring  their  tributes  into 
his    royal    treasury,  would  not  presume  to  undertake? 


I02  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

If  he  is  only  what  he  seems,  well  may  scribe  and  Pharisee 
resent  with  hot  indignation  the  insolence  of  such  impos- 
ture; and  say,  this  man  at  once  blasphemes  God,  in 
assuming  a  prerogative  of  compassion  which  belongs  to 
him  alone,  and  mocks  the  miseries  of  man,  by  vainly 
offering  to  take  them  all  upon  his  puny  arm . 

Be  assured,  my  brethren,  that  the  holy  Jesus  would 
have  been  incapable  of  using  this  language  had  he  not 
been  conscious  that  he  was  not  only  man,  but  God.  It 
was  because  he  could  claim  : '  "I  and  my  Father  are 
one";  "It  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all 
fulness  dwell."  "He  hath  set  him  at  his  own  right 
hand  in  heavenly  places,  and  hath  put  all  things  under 
his  feet,  and  gave  him  to  be  head  over  all  things  to  the 
church."  Unless  the  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth 
to  forgive  sins,  and  infinite  attributes  of  omniscience  and 
omnipotence,  he  cannot  give  peace  to  mankind.  But  he 
is  both  God  and  man.  Unless  the  charge  of  insincerity 
and  imposture  can  be  brought  against  his  character,  this 
promise  compels  us  to  receive  his  proper  divinity ;  and 
here,  my  brethren,  is  the  foundation  of  our  trust  in  him. 
Because  he  hath  in  himself  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead, 
therefore  we  can  rely  upon  his  love,  power,  wisdom  and 
faithfulness,  to  make  us  happy  in  our  dedication  to  him. 
Thus,  the  apparent  paradox  at  the  outset  of  his  invita- 
tion is  turned  into  a  noble  support  of  its  solidity. 

Second,  We  read  assurance  of  our  peace  and  blessed- 
ness in  Christ  in  the  nature  of  the  yoke  which  we  are 
invited  to  receive.  "Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and 
learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart ;  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls." 

Here,  again,  there  appears  to  the  unbeliever  a  still 
greater  paradox ;  he  is  invited  to  look  for  rest  in  assum- 

'Jno.  X.  30;  Col.  i.  19;   Eph.  i.  21-23. 


THE  HAPPY  SERVICE.  IO3 

ing  a  yoke !  It  is  when  the  yoke  is  unbound  and  the 
wearied  ox  is  released  to  follow  his  own  will  pasture- 
ward,  that  he  finds  rest.  So  the  perpetual  delusion  of 
the  unbeliever  is,  that  he  can  find  his  preferred  happiness 
in  the  emancipation  of  his  soul  from  the  dreaded  re- 
straints of  Christianity,  and  in  this  alone.  This  error, 
we  trust,  may  be  dissolved  by  reminding  you  of  a  few 
plain  facts.  The  first  is,  that  there  is  no  such  possible 
alternative  for  you,  as  you  vainly  dream,  between  the 
bearing  of  Christ's  yoke  and  entire  immunity.  No;  the 
only  real  choice  within  your  reach  is  that  between  the 
yoke  of  Christ  and  the  yoke  of  sin,  of  which  Satan  is  the 
master.  Now,  if  this  is  so,  manifestly,  one  may  be 
reasonably  invited  to  seek  the  relief  of  his  toil  by  ex- 
changing a  cruel  and  unrighteous  bondage  for  a  mild  and 
righteous  service.  But  I  repeat,  no  man  is  free,  or  can 
be ;  all  who  do  not  bear  the  yoke  of  Christ,  groan  under 
that  of  sin  and  Satan.  Such  is  the  testimony  of  the 
Scriptures.  "Jesus  answered  them.  Verily,  verily,  I 
say  unto  you,  whosoever  committeth  sin,  is  the  servant 
of  sin."  *'Thou  art  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  the 
bond  of  iniquity."  They  are  "taken  captive  by  the 
devil  at  his  will."^  I  appeal  to  your  own  experience: 
Is  the  most  reckless  sinner  really  free  from  constraint? 
I  speak  not  of  the  bonds  of  discipline  ;  but  in  other 
respects,  is  he  at  liberty  to  regulate  his  actions  by  his 
own  preferences  ?  Nay ;  how  often  does  his  own  pas- 
sion and  sin  lay  him  under  the  most  cruel  restraint 
and  self-denial?  His  delusive  enjoyments  in  trans- 
gression are  often  purchased  at  a  heavy  cost,  and  then 
concealed  at  the  expense  of  irksome  sacrifices  of  in- 
clination. These  are  but  instances  of  the  pinching 
of  Satan's  yoke.  Here,  then,  is  the  choice  which 
'  Jno.  viii.  34;  Acts  viii.  23;  2  Tim.  ii.  26. 


I04  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTKRIAN   PULPIT. 

you  have  to  make,  transgressor;  not  whether  you  may 
repudiate  every  yoke  and  go  free  as  the  wild  ass  of  the 
desert  described  by  Job  ;  but  whether  it  will  most  conduce 
to  the  repose  of  your  soul  to  bear  the  yoke  of  Christ, 
your  loving  Redeemer,  or  of  Satan,  the  soul-murderer. 
The  first  is  right  and  reasonable  (your  own  conscience 
avouches  it),  and  your  heavenly  Master  deals  honestly 
and  graciously  with  you.  He  lays  it  upon  your  shoulder; 
but  he  assists  you  with  his  loving  and  almighty  hand  to 
bear  it ;  he  solaces  your  labor  with  the  sweetest  foretastes 
of  an  approving  conscience  and  heavenly  hope ;  he  makes 
it  grow  perpetually  lighter  by  the  growth  of  holy  habi- 
tudes of  soul ;  and  at  the  end  he  converts  it  into  a  crown 
of  glory.  But  Satan,  a  "liar  from  the  beginning," 
brings  his  foul,  unrighteous  yoke  to  you,  concealed  with 
frippery,  and  persuades  you  that  it  is  but  a  toy.  Thus 
he  binds  it  upon  your  neck,  and  when  he  has  befooled 
you  effectually,  leaves  you  to  bear  it  unaided,  or  mocks 
you  with  sardonic  malice,  while  it  grows  ever  more 
weighty ;  and  having  galled  you  like  iron  here,  crushes 
your  miserable  soul  at  last  into  perdition.  Under  which, 
now,  of  these  yokes  will  you  find  rest  to  your  souls? 

The  second  fact  is,  that  it  is  not  apathetic  indolence  or 
sensual  ease  which  Christ  promises,  but  rest  for  the 
soul.  It  consists  of  peace  of  conscience,  harmony  of  the 
affections,  and  the  enjoyment  of  legitimate  and  ennobling 
exercise  for  all  the  powers.  Man's  true  well-being  re- 
quires activity.  Even  an  ancient  pagan  sage  learned 
enough  of  this  truth  to  define  happiness  as  "virtuous 
energy."  This  definition  we  may  accept  if  we  be  per- 
mitted to  take  it  in  the  sense  of  the  normal  and  healthy 
exercise  of  the  soul's  powers.  He  who  has  no  rule  of 
life,  no  worthy  aim,  no  duty,  can  never  be  happy,  because 
he  puts  forth  no  virtuous  energy.     He  who  bears  the 


THE  HAPPY  SERVICE.  IO5 

right  yoke,  or,  in  other  words,  has  assigned  to  him  the 
proper  activities,  is  the  man  who  truly  enjoys  his  exis- 
tence. 

Thirdy  We  may  expect  rest  under  the  yoke  of  Christ 
because  of  the  character  of  our  Master.  * '  He  is  meek 
and  lowly  in  heart,  and  we  shall  find  rest  unto  our 
souls."  He  is  a  gentle,  kindly,  tender  master.  A 
merciful  master  makes  an  easy  service.  His  benevo- 
lence makes  him  watchful  of  the  welfare  of  his  servants, 
and  considerate  in  dealing  with  their  infirmities.  His 
lowliness  of  heart  ensures  that  he  will  never  sacrifice  the 
happiness  and  lives  of  his  subjects  in  reckless  and  am- 
bitious enterprises.  He  is  not  a  tyrant  to  drag  his 
wretched  subjects,  like  an  Alexander,  or  a  Tamerlane, 
through  frozen  wilds  and  burning  wastes,  and  to  pour 
out  their  blood  as  a  libation  to  the  idol  of  his  fame.  He 
is  the  prince  of  peace,  whose  sceptre  is  truth  and  meek- 
ness and  righteousness,  and  whose  law  is  love.  To  his 
own  people,  he  is  the  "Lamb  of  God,"  w^ho  loved  them 
and  gave  himself  for  them.  How,  then,  is  it  possible 
that  he,  in  regulating  the  lives  and  services  of  his  ran- 
somed ones,  should  impose  on  them  any  other  law  than 
one  which  conduces  to  their  truest  well-being?  To 
dread  the  yoke  of  Christ  is  guilty  mistrust  and  unbehef. 

But  we  shall  not  acquire  the  richest  meaning  of  the 
passage,  unless  we  include  the  connection  of  the  clause, 
"learn  of  me,"  with  the  rest  of  the  verse.  Saith  the 
Saviour,  "Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me." 
What  shall  we  learn  of  him?  Obviously,  we  learn  of 
his  meekness  and  lowliness  of  heart,  how  to  take  the 
yoke  and  how  to  wear  it.  Thus  shall  we"  find  true  re- 
pose of  soul.  This  is  but  teaching  us,  my  brethren, 
that  if  we  would  have  true  peace,  we  must  imitate  the 
spirit  with  which  our  Redeemer  fulfilled  the  will  of  his 


I06  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

Father,  and  bore  his  cross.  No  more  complete  and  ready 
method  of  proof  appears  to  estabUsh  this  assertion  than 
to  ask  you  to  form  to  yourselves  a  conception  of  the  in- 
ward life  of  such  a  man  as  the  man  Jesus.  Suppose  a 
servant  of  God,  endued  with  just  his  affection  and  bene- 
volence, with  his  unselfish  disinterestedness,  with  his 
purity,  with  his  forgiving  temper,  with  his  magnani- 
mity, with  his  elevated  devotion,  and  moving  among  us 
in  the  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of  the  Christian  life, 
under  the  impulse  of  these  lovely  sentiments,  combined 
with  the  social  ties  appropriate  to  our  nature  sanctified. 
Does  not  this  at  once  constitute  a  picture  of  a  life  than 
which  none  cau  be  conceived  more  imbuded  with  the 
sweetness  and  sunshine  of  true  happiness  ?  Would  not 
such  a  life  glow  with  the  very  light  of  heaven's  own 
bliss  amidst  the  gloom  of  our  sorrows  and  sins  ?  Some 
one  may  say,  perhaps:  Such  was  the  temper  of  Jesus; 
yet  he  was  "the  man  of  sorrows."  True;  but  it  was 
because  he  "bore  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sorrows." 
It  was  the  burthen  of  our  guilt  which  pressed  upon  that 
pure  and  holy  heart.  Let  us  suppose  that  he  had  borne 
no  load  of  obloquy,  of  death,  and  of  divine  desertion  for 
us  ;  that  he  had  enjoyed  the  friends  and  outward  bless- 
ings with  which  our  lot  is  crowned  ;  and  had  experienced 
no  heavier  chastisements  than  God's  fatherly  mercy  ap- 
points to  his  adopted  children  here,  sustained  by  the 
consolations  of  his  grace.  Then,  indeed,  would  his  life 
have  been  one  of  heavenly  peace  within.  And  such 
would  ours  be  if  we  learned  of  him,  his  heavenly  tem- 
per. Reproach  and  opposition  might  still  befall  us,  for 
we  should  still  be  in  a  wicked  world  ;  but  the  serene  spirit 
of  conscious  rectitude  and  of  forgiveness  would  sustain 
our  souls  in  a  loftier  atmosphere,  high  above  the  flights 
of  all   the   embittered    shafts   of  malice.      Pain,  fatigue, 


THE  HAPPY  SERVICE. 


107 


sickness,  would  still  visit  us  ;  but  the  spirit,  baptized  in 
peace,  would  sustain  our  infirmity.  Our  hearts  would 
sometimes  bleed  with  bereavements ;  for  we  should  still 
be  sinners,  although  pardoned;  yet  there  would  be  no 
poison  in  the  wound,  for  the  assurance  of  the  love  of  the 
hand  which  directed  the  stroke  would  medicate  our  pain. 
If,  then,  we  would  find  rest  to  our  souls,  let  us  learn  to 
imbibe  the  temper  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus,  and  to 
bear  his  yoke  with  that  devoted  spirit  with  which  he 
fulfilled  his  Father's  will  in  living  and  dying  for  us. 

Fou7th,  In  the  concluding  verse  our  Saviour  gives  this 
crowning  argument:  "For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my 
burden  is  light;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  to  your  souls." 
But  this  reasoning  the  unbeliever  repells  with  more  in- 
credulity than  anything  that  has  preceded  it.  The  yoke 
easy,  and  the  burden  light !  he  exclaims.  How  can  this 
be?  Has  not  Christ  himself  said,  "Strait  is  the  gate, 
and  narrow  is  the  way  ? "  Is  not  the  commandment 
declared  to  be  "  exceeding  broad  "  :  "  The  righteous 
scarcely  are  saved."  How,  then,  can  it  be  argued  that 
we  shall  find  our  true  repose  of  soul  in  the  service  of 
Jesus  Christ  because  the  burden  of  it  is  easy  ? 

The  unconverted  man  has  often  a  worse  ground  of  in- 
credulity than  this  :  that  of  his  own  experience  and  con- 
sciousness. He  says  to  himself:  "  I  have  endeavored  to 
bear  that  yoke ;  I  was  earnest  in  my  attempt,  for  was  I 
not  impelled  to  it  by  the  infinite  moment  of  the  worth  of 
an  immortal  soul,  the  sense  of  dreadful  guilt,  the  terrors 
of  an  endless  hell?  I  strove  hard  to  live  the  Christian 
life.  Often  I  renewed  my  struggle,  even  with  almost 
despairing  bitterness ;  but  the  task  was  too  great.  I 
have  relinquished  it,  and  again  I  am  living  the  life  of 
careless  impenitence,  conscious  that  the  danger  of  perdi- 
tion is  not  removed,  but  only  veiled  partially  from  my 


Io8  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

own  eyes  by  my  insensibility,  well  aware  that  my  con- 
science is  not  cleansed,  but  only  seared.  So  well  have  I 
learned,  by  my  own  miserable  experiments,  that  this 
grievous  yoke  of  Christianity  would  crush  out  every 
enjoyment  of  life  for  me,  if  borne  in  earnest,  that  I  am 
now  stubbornly  braving  the  appalling  risks  of  an  unpre- 
pared death  and  a  lost  immortality,  rather  than  face  the 
burden  again  at  present.  And  after  all  this,  would  the 
preacher  persuade  me  that  '*the  yoke  is  easy  and  the 
burden  light  ?     Alas  !  I  know  better  !  ' ' 

Such  is  the  skepticism,  and  such  its  ground  w^hich 
most  adult  transgressors  read  in  their  own  hearts,  when 
they  scan  their  contents  honestly.  Say,  unbeliever, 
have  I  not  given  correct  form  to  your  inmost  thought? 
And  your  most  intimate  conviction  is  at  points  with  the 
express  declaration  of  your  Saviour.  How  shall  I 
attempt  to  solve  this  crowning  paradox  for  you,  and  to 
reconcile  your  unbelief  to  this  gracious  truth  ?  This  is 
a  task  w^hich  the  Holy  Spirit  can  alone  accomplish  with 
efl&cacy ;  and,  thanks  to  him,  he  does  not  require  the 
execution  of  it  from  his  ministers.  Nothing  but  a  true 
conversion  by  his  power,  experienced  in  the  heart,  can 
enable  the  sinner  to  appreciate  the  nature  of  Christ's 
service.  The  blind  man  cannot  be  taught  precisely  what 
are  the  beauties  of  the  spring  before  his  eyes  are  opened. 
But  yet  something  may  be  said  to  obviate  your  incred- 
ulity ;  something  which,  though  it  will  not  make  you 
comprehend  how  this  yoke  becomes  light,  may  yet  enable 
you  to  apprehend  that  it  is  not  unreasonable  it  should 
become  so  to  the  believer. 

Remember,  then,  that  the  declarations  w^hich  the 
Scriptures  make  of  the  straitness  and  difficulty  of  the 
Christian's  way  refer  always  to  man's  native  unassisted 
strength.     Relatively  to  that  strength,  the  way  is  indeed 


THE  HAPPY  SERVICE. 


109 


arduous.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  its  difficulty; 
if  we  should  persuade  the  unconverted  heart  that  it  is 
absolutely  certain  his  unaided  strength  and  resolution 
will  fail  before  it,  we  should  be  strictly  true.  And  now, 
I  appeal  to  your  own  consciousness :  Were  not  those  ill- 
starred  efforts  to  serve  Christ,  whose  failure  now  so  dis- 
courages you,  made  in  your  own  poor  strength  ?  Did 
you  not  begin  them  unconvinced  of  your  impotency? 
Was  not  this  the  thought  of  your  heart :  ' '  Seeing  the 
danger  of  my  soul,  /,  as  a  rational  being,  will  resolve ; 
and  /  will  fulfil  what  I  resolve.  I  shall  not  be  an  incon- 
sistent, half-way  Christian,  like  these  despised  ones 
whose  blemishes  have  so  often  been  the  butt  of  my  con- 
tempt. I  shall  reform  my  life  truly,  and  keep  the  law, 
and  thus  prepare  and  recommend  myself  for  gospel  for- 
giveness." Did  you  form  those  purposes  of  piety  and 
make  those  efforts,  in  explicit,  full  dependence  on  a 
spiritual  ability  to  be  communicated  to  you  by  Christ,  of 
free  grace,  so  that  your  sole  encouragement  to  attempt 
them  was  his  faithful  word  of  promise?  Alas,  no! 
And  therefore  your  service  of  him  was  a  mortifying 
failure.  Now  I  beg  you  to  weigh  the  real  statement  of 
your  Saviour  in  the  text.  He  has  never  said  that  the 
yoke  would  be  easy,  or  the  burden  light  to  a  soul  which 
attempted  to  lift  it  apart  from  him.  What  he  taught  was 
this:  that  he  who  "cometh"  to  him,  he  who  ''learns 
of  him"  shall  find  the  yoke  easy.  This  you  refused  to 
do ;  you  have  never  really  tested  the  correctness  of 
Christ's  declarations  ;  you  have,  in  fact,  no  experience 
whatever  upon  the  subject. 

"But'  when  we  were  yet  without  strength,   in  due  , 
time  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly."     And  one  chief  por-  > 
tion  of  his  purchase  for  us  was  enabling  grace,  which  is  I 
'  Rom.  V.  6. 


IIO  SOUTHKKN   PRKSBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

oflfered  to  our  faith  on  Uie  same  ternis  with  remission  of 
sin.  Hear  now  some  of  the  blessed  assurances  of  this 
fact : '  "If  any  man  be  in  Christ  Jesus,  he  is  a  new  crea- 
ture ;  old  things  have  passed  away ;  behold  all  things 
have  become  new  ;  and  all  things  are  of  God. "  '^  "I  am 
crucified  with  Christ;  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me  ;  and  the  life  which  I  now  live 
in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who 
loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me."^  ''And  he  said 
unto  me.  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee  :  for  my  strength 
is  made  perfect  in  weakness."  *  "A  new  heart  also  will 
I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you  :  and 
I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh,  and  I 
will  give  you  a  heart  of  flesh.  And  I  will  put  my  Spirit 
within  you,  and  cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes,  and 
ye  shall  keep  my  judgments,  and  do  them." 

If  these  precious  promises  are  true,  is  it  not  clear  that 
he  who  has  them  fulfilled  in  his  soul  may  reasonably  ex- 
pect a  wholly  different  experience  from  yours  in  bearing 
the  yoke  ?  Here  new  views  of  truth  are  given  :  a  spir- 
itual ability  is  awakened  in  the  faculties  hitherto  misdi- 
rected to  sin  and  sense;  man's  impotence  of  will  for 
spiritual  good  is  renovated  by  the  almighty  will  of  the 
Spirit.  If,  indeed,  Christ  does  all  this  in  him  who  comes 
and  learns  of  him  and  takes  his  yoke,  plainly  that  ser- 
vice may  be  easy  and  pleasant  to  him  which  before 
was  intolerable.  Sometimes  the  curious  child,  straying 
where  the  laborers  have  laid  down  their  implements, 
takes  up  the  axe  or  scythe  adapted  to  a  man's  strength, 
and  undertakes  to  use  it.  But  his  youthful  limbs  are 
unequal  to  the  task ;  his  toil  is  excessive ;  his  breath 
heaves  with  panting,  his  heart  throbs,   and  his  joints 

'2  Cor.  V.  17.         'Gal.  ii.  20, 
^  2  Cor.  xii.  g.  ■•  Ezek.  xxxvi.  28,  26. 


THE  HAPPY  SERVICE.  HI 

quiver  with  fatigue.  As  he  lays  it  down,  he  concludes 
perhaps,  thus:  "How  burdensome  and  repulsive  must 
the  life  of  the  laborer  be !  Surely  every  pleasure  of  ex- 
istence is  crushed  out  by  his  excessive  toil !  Yet  he 
is  mistaken  ;  he  has  judged  their  tasks  by  his  measure  of 
strength.  They  have  the  muscles  of  men ;  and  when 
they  come  forth  in  the  breezy  fields  or  fragrant  woods, 
refreshed  with  food  and  their  veins  rich  with  lusty  blood, 
there  is  a  positive  joy  in  the  vigorous  swing  of  these  wea- 
pons of  sturdy  and  honest  labor.  Similar  is  the  error 
which  you  have  made,  when  you  have  attempted  to  bear 
Christ's  yoke  in  your  own  strength,  which  is  weakness; 
and  overpowered  by  the  burden,  have  inferred  that  Christ 
cannot  make  it  light  by  his  grace. 

But  there  is  another  solution,  which  is,  if  possible, 
more  important.  It  is  found  in  the  difference  of  motive 
and  affection  by  which  the  service  of  the  believer  and 
that  of  the  unbeliever  are  prompted.  Those  labors  are 
easy  and  pleasant  which  are  inspired  by  love,  however 
absorbing  they  may  be  of  time  and  strength.  But  if  they 
are  compelled  by  reluctant  fear  and  rendered  in  hatred, 
the  lightest  exertions  gall  the  heart.  The  man  who  is 
incapable  of  domestic  love  looks  on  the  toils  of  the  labori- 
ous father  with  disgust ;  he  thinks  his  life  that  of  a  galley 
slave ;  and  says  to  himself  that  no  power  nor  price  on 
earth  shall  ever  bend  him  to  so  irksome  a  bondage.  But 
does  that  careful  parent  think  so?  Nay,  his  labors,  his 
crops,  the  glebe  watered  with  the  honest  sweat  of  his 
brow,  are  dear  to  him ;  he  cherishes  them  with  all  the 
affectionate  interest  of  heart's  treasures  ;  they  feed  those 
whom  he  loves.  As  he  pursues  his  busy  tillage  through 
the  sultry  hours,  although  he  does  feel  the  heat  and 
burden  of  the  day,  he  is  happy  in  his  endurance  ;  because 
he  has  before  him  the  peaceful  home  which  is  blessed 


112  SOUTHKRI^    PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

with  the  fruits  of  these  labors,  the  board  spread  with 
bounty  by  the  work  of  his  sturdy  hand,  with  the  smiling 
faces  around  it,  the  welcome  of  pattering  feet  and  gleeful 
voices,  and  childish  arms  about  his  neck,  which  he  ex- 
pects to  meet  him  as  he  returns  at  eve,  heavy  perhaps  of 
limb,  but  light  of  heart,  from  his  daily  tasks,  and  the 
loving  smile  of  the  thoughtful  mate,  who  keeps  the 
hearth  bright  for  his  coming.  Go  now,  to  that  man,  and 
tempt  him  to  leave  his  fields  for  some  scene  of  sinful 
amusement ;  tell  him  that  his  daily  labor  is  nothing  but 
a  miserable  drudgery,  and  that  it  is  time  for  him  to  seek 
enjoyment  abroad.  Will  he  hearken  ?  No ;  his  labor  is 
his  enjoyment;  those  guilty  and  mischievous  scenes 
have  no  allurement  for  him,  because  love  makes  him 
happy  enough  in  his  industry. 

Or,  if  this  instance  is  not  enough,  we  may  find  a  more 
conclusive  one  in  that  which  is  the  strongest  and  purest 
of  all  affections  found  among  sinful  men,  the  love  of  a 
mother  for  her  babe.  And  this,  also,  imposes  the  sever- 
est toils  which  any  of  the  duties  of  common  life  require. 
As  the  young  female,  a  stranger  as  yet  to  this  devoted 
love,  witnesses  the  sacrifices  of  some  mother,  lately  her 
comrade,  amidst  the  perpetual  watchings  and  sleepless 
cares  of  the  nurser^^  it  may  be  that  she  looks  on  with 
disgust  and  dread,  and  she  says  to  herself,  not  for  all 
the  world  would  I  submit  to  such  an  abhorred,  burden. 
But  the  time  comes  when  the  fountain  of  maternal  love 
is  opened  in  her  heart  also.  Now  see  the  recent  vota- 
ress of  fashion !  How  zealously  does  she  forsake  the 
admiration  of  society,  and  sacrifice  the  bloom  of  her 
beauty,  lately  so  much  prized,  amidst  the  vigils  of  her 
domestic  tasks.  These  cares  are  no  longer  repulsive. 
Propose  to  her  to  resign  her  tender  charge  wholly  to 
some  hireling,  whose  well-paid  skill  will  probably  far 


THE  HAPPY  SERVICE. 


113 


surpass  her  inexperience  in  providing  for  its  welfare, 
and  to  return  to  the  deHghts  of  the  ball-room.  She  will 
reject  it,  and  as  she  presses  her  infant  to  her  bosom,  will 
declare  that  no  joy  of  earth  is  so  sweet  as  the  care  of  this 
darling  object.  Whence  this  change  ?  It  is  because  a 
new  love  has  been  born  along  with  her  offspring.  The 
yoke  of  love  is  ever  easy,  and  its  burden  is  light. 

In  like  manner,  if  he  who  comes  to  Christ  and  learns 
of  him,  learns  thereby  to  love,  this  new  motive  abun- 
dantly explains  the  fact  to  you,  sinner,  so  incredible, 
that  his  yoke  becomes  easy.  For,  I  take  your  own 
heart  to  witness,  that  in  your  former  efforts  to  live  a  re- 
ligious life,  no  love  animated  your  resolve.  The  world 
and  self-will  were  still  sweet  to  you  intrinsically.  If 
you  felt  the  sting  and  bitterness  of  any  of  your  sins,  it 
was  only  because  self-love  was  terrified  by  the  looming 
of  the  danger  they  incurred.  The  Christian  life  was 
abhorrent  to  your  secret  heart ;  and  the  language  of  your 
inner  thought  was  that  this  divine  Master  was  an  austere 
man  whose  service  you  would  defy  if  you  dared.  Poor, 
unwilling  captive  !  No  wonder  your  service,  wrung  by 
fear  from  a  bitter,  reluctant  heart,  was  a  galling  bond- 
age. 

But  now  remember  the  blessed  truth  already  estab- 
lished from  the  Scripture:  that  when  a  believing  soul 
embraces  the  cross,  Christ  **  crucifies  the  enmity  there- 
by" ;  that  he  engages  to  take  away  the  stony  heart  out 
of  our  flesh  and  give  us  a  heart  of  flesh ;  that  when  he 
reconciles  God  to  us  by  his  atonement,  he  also  reconciles 
us  to  God  by  our  effectual  calling,  and  sheds  abroad  his 
love  upon  our  hearts.  Then,  as  the  regenerated  sinner 
considers  the  amazing  love  and  condescension  of  a  Re- 
deemer God,  stooping  to  death  to  rescue  him  from  un- 
utterable   ruin,    a   new-bom    gratitude   conspires    with 


114  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

adoration  for  his  excellences,  and  he  begins  to  say,  "I 
love  him  because  he  first  loved  me."  Then  the  love  of 
Christ  constraining  him  becomes  the  spring  of  a  joyful 
obedience;  and  he  sings  with  devout  delight,  in  the 
language  of  David,  "O  Lord,  truly  I  am  thy  servant:  I 
am  thy  servant  and  the  son  of  thy  handmaid.  Thou 
hast  loosed  my  bonds."  This  is  the  wa.y,  O  sinner,  the 
yoke  is  made  easy  and  the  burden  light !  Cannot  you 
apprehend  it? 

Perhaps  such  a  glimpse  of  the  beauty  and  glory  of  the 
cross  hath  penetrated  your  heart  (which  may  God  grant), 
that  you  are  almost  ready  to  say  :  * '  Ah  !  if  I  could  only 
claim  that  wondrous  Saviour  as  mine,  if  I  could  believe 
that  the  divine  blood  was  indeed  shed  for  my  sins ;  that 
the  burning  throne,  whose  just  wrath  now  blights  every 
look  which  my  wretched  soul  turns  tow^ards  God  with 
fear  and  enmity,  was  changed  for  me  into  a  throne  of 
grace ;  that  this  dreadful  God  was  indeed  reconciled,  and 
was  become  a  tender  Father,  I,  too,  could  love — I,  too, 
could  serve  with  hope  and  cheerful  obedience.  But  how 
shall  I  know  this  ?  How  read  the  secret  verdict  of 
heaven,  which  requites  and  adopts  the  object  of  almighty 
grace  ? 

I  will  tell  you  how.  But  first  let  me  warn  you  not  to 
mistake  the  obstinacy  of  your  own  native  opposition  to 
God.  .  If  you  think  that  the  mere  apprehension  of  your 
own  interest  in  the  cross,  and  of  the  excellence  and  love 
displayed  therein  towards  you  will  be  enough  of  itself 
without  the  invoking  of  the  sovereign  Spirit  to  renovate 
your  obdurate  heart,  you  will  be  disappointed.  No  doc- 
trine, no  moral  suasion  alone,  not  even  that  of  dying 
love,  will  melt  that  flinty  thing ;  nothing  but  the  power 
divine  which  first  created  it.  But  if  you  feel  that  you 
could  indeed  love  Christ,  if  only  you  were  assured  that 


THE  HAPPY  SERVICE.  II5 

he  had  first  loved  3^ou,  then  it  is  my  dehghtful  commis- 
sion to  tell  you  that  you  may  claim  that  privilege  of  lov- 
ing. Christ  invites  you.  His  own  words  are:  "Who- 
soever will,  let  him  come."  He  tells  us  that  the  man 
upon  whom  God's  secret  verdict  of  the  heavenly  justifi- 
cation and  adoption  is  passed,  is  he  who  is  truly  willing 
to  embrace  and  to  serve  Christ.  Are  you  willing? 
Then  you  are  one  of  those  for  whom  the  invitation  is 
sent.  Come,  then,  thou  weary,  heavy-laden  soul ; 
"Come  to  Jesus  and  he  will  give  you  rest.  Take  his 
yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  him ;  for  he  is  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart ;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  to  your  souls.  For 
his  yoke  is  easy,  and  his  burden  is  light. ' ' 

Permit  me,  in  closing  this  discourse,  to  point  out  two 
instructive  lessons  which  are  contained  in  these  words  of 
the  Saviour. 

One  is,  that  faith  always  includes  an  immediate  as- 
sumption of  all  known  duty.  Christ  here  explains 
*  *  coming  to  him  ' '  in  verse  twenty -eight  (which  is  his 
customary  expression  for  believing),  by  taking  up  the 
yoke  and  learning  of  him  in  verse  twenty-nine.  The 
true  believer,  although  of  all  men  most  impressed  with 
his  own  impotency  to  live  the  Christian  life  aright,  im- 
mediately sets  about  that  very  thing.  It  is  because  the 
gospel  promise  pledges  Christ's  strength  to  make  the 
yoke  easy ;  and  the  function  of  faith  is  to  embrace  the 
promise  just  as  it  is.  Now,  there  is  somebody  here 
whose  failure  and  distress  are  all  explained  by  this  re- 
mark. My  brother,  you  think  you  comprehend  and 
approve  the  plan  for  a  sinner's  pardon  through  Christ, 
and  that  you  can  trust  it.  But  you  have  not  found  rest 
for  your  soul?  It  is  because  there  is  some  yoke,  some 
duty,  which  you  have  not  assumed.  What  is  it?  You 
know;    I  do  not.      God  does.     Take  it  up  like  a  man; 


Il6  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

do  it  now,  not  self-righteously  but  believingly,  and  you 
will  find  the  blessed  rest. 

Second,  There  is  somebody  else  here  who  thinks  he 
sees  and  craves  the  blessedness  of  the  soul  which  has 
received  the  conscious  assurance,  in  its  own  exercises, 
of  being  saved  in  Christ.  He  says,  '*0h!  if  I  could 
only  feel  in  my  heart  these  new-born  affections  and  thus 
know  my  interest  in  him,  how  joyfully  would  I  flee  to 
him  and  embrace  him  w4th  his  service ;  and  no  toils  nor 
sacrifices  should  tempt  my  happy  heart  for  one  moment 
to  forsake  his  yoke.  But  alas  !  when  I  look  within,  all 
is  cold  and  dark.  How  can  I  venture  with  this  unre- 
newed heart? 

The  answer  which  Christ  here  implies  is  this  :  The 
conscious,  inward  experience  of  his  grace  is  bestowed  by 
your  coming  and  when  you  come,  not  before.  Hear 
him  :  ' '  Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me, "... 
"and  ye  shall  find  rest  to  your  souls."  You  must  find 
it  by  taking  the  yoke,  not  before  you  take  it.  You  must 
venture  on  his  divine  word,  trusting  that  alone,  and 
committing  yourself  to  his  fidelity  in  advance  of  your 
own  experience.  And  does  not  he  deserve  this,  who 
died  for  you?  Cannot  you  trust  him?  If  he  saved  you 
by  the  method  you  desire,  your  trust  would  be,  after  all, 
not  on  him  but  on  your  own  experiences.  How  sandy 
a  foundation ! 

But  there  is  a  more  offensive  form  of  this  mistrust. 
Some  anxious,  convinced  souls  would  fain  have  the 
peace ;  but  they  are  loath  to  commit  themselves  irrevo- 
cably to  Christ's  yoke  until  they  have  made  a  sort  of 
conditional  experiment  for  themselves  of  the  comfort  and 
ease  with  which  they  may  bear  it.  They  cannot  trust 
the  word  and  oath  of  the  Saviour  who  is  the  God,  and 
who  so  loved  them  as  to  lay  down  his  life  for  their  souls. 


THE  HAPPY  SERVICE.  II7 

No;  they  must  be  allowed  to  finger  the  yoke,  to  weigh 
it  in  their  hands,  to  judge  how  it  will  wear,  and  then,  if 
they  like  it,  perhaps  Christ  will  be  permitted  to  bind  it 
on  permanently.  Deluded  soul!  Of  course  the  yoke, 
thus  tried,  will  not  wear  lightly.  And  what  is  such 
mistrust  but  an  insult  to  the  majesty,  the  love,  the  faith- 
fulness of  Christ  ?  He  will  not  traffic  with  you  for  your 
deliverance  on  such  terms  as  these.  You  must  trust 
yourself  without  reserve  to  his  fidelity,  or  he  will  turn 
with  holy  scorn  from  your  insolent  proposal,  and  leave 
your  miserable  soul  to  perish  in  its  doubts.  "The  fear- 
ful ' '  (they  who  are  too  timid  to  trust  themselves  to  the 
faithfulness  of  their  God  and  Saviour)  ' '  and  unbelieving 
and  abominable  ....  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake 
which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone,  which  is  the 
second  death. "     (Rev.  xxi.  8.) 


SEEKING  THE  LORD. 

BY  J.  W.  ROSEBRO,  D.  D., 
Pastor  of  T abb-Street  Presbyterian  Church,  Petersburg,  Va. 


"  Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found,  call  ye  upon  him 
while  he  is  near." — Isaiah  Iv.  6. 

THE  fifty-third,  fifty-fourth  and  fifty-fifth  chapters 
of  Isaiah  should  be  studied  together.  They  are 
closely  and  logically  connected.  In  the  fifty- 
third  chapter,  the  great  foundation  truth  of  redemption 
is  laid.  The  hope  of  Israel  and  of  the  world  is  in  the 
suffering  Messiah,  who  "was  wounded  for  our  trans- 
gression ' '  and  ' '  bruised  for  our  iniquities  "  ;  on  whom 
the  Lord  hath  laid  the  iniquity  of  us  all. 

The  fifty-fourth  shows  us  the  church  built  on  this 
great  foundation.  "I  will  lay  thy  stones  with  fair 
colors  and  lay  thy  foundation  with  sapphires."  She 
stands  as  the  House  Beautiful  with  her  chamber  called 
"Peace"  that  always  looked  to  the  sun-rise.  There 
can  be  no  such  church  except  as  built  on  the  suffering 
and  death  of  him  who  made  "his  soul  an  offering  for 
sin." 

Then,  in  the  fifty-fifth  chapter,  this  glorious  church 
flings  her  doors  wide  open  in  the  world-wide  invitation 
from  her  Lord,  "  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye 
to  the  waters."  But  there  could  be  no  such  invitation, 
nor  any  church  to  give  it  if  Jesus  had  not  died.  The 
great  invitation  of  the  fifty-  ^fth  is  made  possible  by  the 
truth  giveji  i7i  the » fifty -third.     Bear  this  in  mind. 

ii8 


I 


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SEEKING  THE  LORD.  1 19 

Our  text  gives  us  a  command,  a  prom,ise  and  a  warning. 

I.  The  command  is,  "Seek  ye  the  Lord."  It  comes 
from  one  who  has  the  right  to  command.  Let  not  the 
fulness  and  freeness  of  the  invitation  lead  you  to  think 
you  have  nothing  to  do.  It  is  true  Jesus  says  he  came 
to  seek  as  well  as  save  the  lost ;  yet  he  also  declares  we 
must  seek  if  we  would  find.  It  is  true,  he  stands  at  the 
door  and  knocks,  yet  must  we  knock  if  we  would  have 
it  opened  unto  us.  It  is  true,  God  opens  wide  the  door 
of  his  grace  and  proclaims,  '  *  whosoever  will  may  come ' ' ; 
yet  must  we  "strive  to  enter  in."  He  offers  the  water 
of  life  *  *  without  money ' '  ;  yet  must  we  * '  buy  ' '  it. 
God  presses  the  gift  of  eternal  life  on  us ;  yet  is  it  true, 
* '  I  will  yet  for  this  be  inquired  of  by  the  house  of 
Israel."  God  forces  himself  on  no  soul.  He  offers 
himself,  and  then  it  is  our  privilege,  our  duty  to  "seek 
the  Lord. ' '  We  cannot  sit  down  and  wait  for  salvation ; 
we  must  seek  the  Lord,  though  he.  is  not  far  from  us. 

Many  of  the  young  make  the  mistake  of  thinking  that 
religion  will  come  to  them  sometime  in  the  future,  and 
that  they  need  not  concern  themselves  to  ' '  seek. "  In 
every  community  there  are  a  number  of  men  of  excellent 
character  who  hope  that  some  day,  through  the  prayers 
of  their  Christian  wives,  they  will  become  Christians, 
yet  never  stop  earnestly  to  seek  for  themselves.  So  the 
years  go  by  and  they  drift  farther  and  farther  from  the 
things  they  have  heard.  Hear  all  ye  what  God  declares, 
''  Seek  ye  the  Lord."  We  must  seek  with  all  the  heart. 
Then  shall  ye  seek  me  and  ye  shall  find  me,  when  ye 
seek  me  with  all  the  heart.  Can  you  hope  by  a  few  fit- 
ful seekings  to  find  the  Lord?  Seek  as  you  do  earthly 
prizes.  What  earnestness!  What  self-denial!  What 
difiSculties  are  struggled  against  and  overcome!  And 
for  what?     For  corruptible  crowns!     Alas!    for  the  in- 


I20  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

corruptible  crown  you  are  not  willing  to  take  a  little  time 
for  serious  thought  and  prayer.  The  slightest  hindrance 
will  turn  aside  your  purpose.  The  difficulties  in  your 
way  are  but  the  test  of  earnestness.  When  Jesus  an- 
swered not  a  word  to  the  prayer  of  the  anguished  mother 
pleading  for  her  child;  yea,  when  he  cast  her  heathen 
origin  in  her  face,  and  told  her  that  heathen  dogs  had  no 
right  to  the  children's  bread,  she  only  drew  the  closer 
and  put  a  deeper  power  in  her  appeal :  *  *  Lord,  help  me. ' ' 
When  the  crowd  bade  Bartimeus  hush  his  cry,  he  but 
"cried  out  the  more  exceedingly."  When  the  press 
about  the  Lord  prevented  the  four  who  bore  the  palsied 
man  from  entering  the  door,  they  climbed  to  the  roof 
and  opened  a  way  and  showed  their  faith.  Yet  here  are 
blessings,  needed  by  you  and  offered  to  you,  richer  than 
ever  blind  begged  for  or  palsied  needed ;  yet,  when  Jesus 
is  '  *  near ' '  to  give  these,  and  is  ' '  passing  by  "  no  more 
to  return  for  some,  you  let  any  hindrance  stop  you. 
The  fear  of  man,  some  business  call,  an  invitation  of 
pleasure,  the  faults  of  some  Christian,  any  slight  hin- 
drance, is  excuse  enough  for  your  neglect.  What  is  it 
you  are  thus  lightly  treating?     It  is  eternal  life. 

Oh !  that  it  could  be  deeply  impressed  on  you  that 
while  divine  love  has  thrown  wide  open  the  door  of  life 
and  written  over  it  so  all  may  see  its  words  of  welcome, 
"Ho,  every  one,"  still  you  must  strive  to  enter.  Hear, 
then,  God's  command,  ""Seek  ye  the  Lord." 

II.  A  promise  is  in  the  text,  though  it  is  implied, 
not  distinctly  stated.  If  God  invites  us  to  come  and 
commayids  us  to  come,  there  is  surely  an  implied  promise 
of  acceptance,  when  we  obey  the  command  and  accept 
the  invitation.  He  has  filled  his  book  with  richest  pro- 
mises and  holds  up  before  us  one  illustration  after  an- 
other, that  we  may  see  how  sinful  souls  came  to  accept 


SEEKING  THE  LORD.  121 

his  invitation  and  that  none  ever  went  away  unblest. 
He  assures  us  that  the  favor  of  God  standeth  sure,  and 
that  '''whosoever''  cometh  to  drink  of  this  water  shall 
receive  it  without  money. 

Now  we  may  turn  to  consider  the  full  confidence  given 
us  by  the  great  truth  taught  in  the  fifty-third  chapter. 
When  our  sins  and  fears  arise  and  make  us  ask,  ' '  Can 
God  accept  and  forgive  me  "  ?  God  answers  by  showing 
us  one  already  *  *  wounded  for  our  transgressions ' '  and 
* '  bruised  for  our  iniquities  ; ' '  the  stripes  due  for  our  sin 
have  been  laid  on  him,  and  "with  his  stripes  we  are 
healed. ' '  Jesus  has  '  *  made  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin, ' ' 
therefore  he  can  be  just  yet  justify  you,  ungodly  as  you 
are.     That  chapter  assures  us — 

"  That  love  unknown 
Has  broken  every  barrier  down." 

It  is  a  glorious,  amazing  truth,  that  since  Jesus  died  God 
is  graciously  bound  to  receive  every  soul  that  comes 
trusting  in  Jesus  who  died.  See  how  beautifully  this 
was  illustrated  in  the  case  of  Mephibosheth,  Jonathan's 
son.  You  remember  he  was  injured  when  a  child  and 
was  always  "lame  on  both  his  feet."  When  David 
came  to  the  throne  he  sought  the  descendants  of  Jonathan 
that  he  might  show  to  them  "the  kindness  of  God." 
But  Mephibosheth  thought  David  meant  evil  to  him,  and 
he  was  afraid  and  tried  to  escape  and  hide  himself.  When 
at  last  found  and  brought  before  David  he  came  with 
fear  and  fell  on  his  face.  Yet  did  the  king  meet  him 
with  the  gracious  words,  "  I  will  surely  shew  thee  kind- 
ness for  Jonathan,  thy  father's  sake."  When  Mephi- 
bosheth answered,  "What  is  thy  servant,  that  thou 
shouldest  look  upon  such  a  dead  dog  as  I?  "  What  did 
David  virtually  reply?     "  I  am  not  thinking  of  whether 


122  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

you  are  comely  as  Absalom,  or  lame  on  both  your  feet ; 
I  am  thinking  of  Jonathan,  of  my  love  to  him  and  of  my 
covenant  with  him.  That  covenant  binds  me  to  show 
kindness  to  you,  therefore  you  shall  be  as  a  king's  son 
and  sit  ever  at  my  table. ' ' 

David  and  Jonathan  had  made  a  ' '  blood  covenant ' ' 
together.  The  blood  of  each  flowed  in  the  other  and  that 
covenant  could  not  be  broken.  Therefore  was  David 
bound  to  show  kindness  to  Jonathan's  son. 

Oh,  poor  sinner!  you  have  been  running  away  from 
God,  and,  when  at  last  the  Holy  Spirit  lead  you  to  fall 
before  him,  your  sin  makes  j^ou  feel  you  are  all  unworthy 
the  least  notice  or  favor.  Why  should  he  look  on  ' '  such 
a  dead  dog  as  I  am  ? '  *  With  wondrous  love  God  lifts 
you  up  and  says,  "There  is  a  blood  covenant  between 
me  and  my  Son.  By  that  covenant  I  am  bound  to  show 
the  kindness  of  God  to  all  for  whom  Jesus  died  and  who 
come  to  me  by  him.  I  cannot  turn  you  away  if  I  would. 
You  may  feel  all  unworthy  a  place  at  the  King's  table, 
but  I  make  you  as  one  of  the  King's  sons  and  you  shall 
sit  at  my  table  forever. ' ' 

What  absolute  confidence  is  given  to  us  by  that  invi- 
tation which  says,  **Ho,  every  one,"  and  then  points 
to  the  fifty-third  chapter  as  giving  us  ' '  all  the  fitness  he 
requireth ' '  !  You  see,  you  do  not  need  to  be  cured  of 
your  lame  legs  before  he  will  show  kindness.  We  are 
ever  putting  the  seventh  verse  of  this  chapter  before  the 
sixth.  We  say,  **I  will  forsake  my  wicked  ways  and 
give  up  my  unrighteous  thoughts,  then  seek  the  Lord." 
"No,"  God  says,  "come  to  me  first,  then  you  shall  be 
strengthened  to  forsake  your  wicked  ways.  I  put  the 
sixth  verse  before  the  seventh. ' '  What  avails  it  to  the 
leper  to  cure  a  few  of  his  sores  when  the  fatal  disease  is 
sent  out  from  the  heart  in  the  blood?     Come,  ye  lepers, 


SEEKING  THE  LORD. 


123 


to  the  Son  of  man.  •  Let  his  merciful  touch  make  you 
clean.     Wait  not  to  rid  your  soul  of  one  dark  blot, 

"To  thee  whose  blood  can  cleanse  each  spot, 
O,  Lamb  of  God,  I  come,  I  come." 

Nor  need  you  fear  that  you  may  be  shut  out  because  you 
are  not  of  the  elect.  It  is  true  that  God  chooses  us  and 
that  we  are  ' '  chosen  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. ' ' 
Yet  he  has  left  us  the  power  '  *  to  choose  whom  we  will 
serve."  Paul  does  not  hesitate  to  reaffirm  the  Saviour's 
teaching,  that  we  owe  our  salvation  to  the  sovereign 
electing  love  of  God.  Yet,  side  by  side  with  this  great 
truth  he  presses  our  responsibility.  In  the  ninth  chap- 
ter of  Romans  he  presents  the  great  subject  of  predesti- 
nation in  such  a  way  that  it  gives  some  the  cold  chills 
to  read  it ;  yet  he  closes  the  subject  by  showing  us  in 
the  last  verse  of  the  tenth  chapter,  God  standing  with 
outstretched  hands  of  loving,  earnest  entreaty,  and  say- 
ing, "All  day  long  I  have  stretched  forth  my  hands." 

We  only  ' '  darken  counsel  with  words  ' '  when  we 
attempt  to  explain  how  God  is  sovereign  in  his  electing 
love,  and  yet  has  left  to  us  the  power  of  choice.  How- 
ever we  may  fail  to  understand,  we  shall  never  fail  to 
find  it  true  that  God's  decree  bars  the  door  in  the  face  of 
none  who  seek  to  enter.  While  election  shuts  a  great 
many  in,  we  know  it  shuts  none  out.  So  far  from  that 
being  true,  he  has  flung  that  door  wide  open  and  stands 
''all  day  long''  stretching  out  his  hands  and  saying, 
"  Whosoever  will,  let  him  come."  It  is  wonderful, 
wonderful !  All  day  long,  all  day  long.  Does  that  look 
like  God  had  shut  the  door  ?  Nay,  you  must  run  away 
from  God's  loving  entreaty  and  hide  yourself  from  that 
invitation  which  follows  you  *  *  all  day  long. 

Thus,  you  see,  the  question  with  you  is  not  will  God 


124  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

receive  me  when  I  seek  him,  but  will  I  let  him  find  me? 
The  question  is  not  will  he  hear  me  when  I  pray,  but 
will  I  hear  him  beseeching  me?  It  is  not  will  he  open 
to  me  when  I  knock  and  plead,  but  will  I  open  to  him 
knocking  and  saying,  "Rise  and  let  me  in?"  It  is  not 
will  he  give  me  eternal  life  in  answer  to  my  anguished 
prayer,  but  will  I  take  the  life  which,  with  a  father's 
love,  he  presses  on  me?  Oh  !  every  shadow  of  doubt 
is  taken  away  from  us,  and  we  are  stripped  of  every  ves- 
tige of  an  excuse ! 

III.  The  warning  of  the  text.  The  preacher  would 
not  be  faithful  to  you  did  he  not  press  on  your  thoughts 
the  warning  in  this  text.  Do  not  the  words,  "while  he 
may  be  found, "  "  while  he  is  near, ' '  warn  us  that  there 
is  a  time  when  he  may  710 1  be  found,  when  he  is  7iot 
near?  For  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  God  was  near 
to  the  people  in  the  days  of  Noah,  and  through  the  open 
door  of  the  ark  God  was  to  be  found.  At  last  he  shut 
the  door.  Then  it  was  too  late  to  seek.  The  door  was 
shut  and  there  was  no  more  refuge  to  be  then  found 
from  the  beating  storm  and  whelming  waters.  Were 
there  not  five  virgins  who  gave  little  heed  to  invitation 
and  warning,  and  who  stood  at  last  outside  and  the  door 
was  shut?  It  was  the  voice  of  the  Bridegroom,  no 
longer  near,  who  bade  them  depart. 

"Too  late!  too  late! 
Ye  cannot  enter  now." 

There  is  a  time  for  the  husbandman  to  sow.  If  he 
sow  not  neither  shall  he  reap.  Ask  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
burn  into  your  soul  the  words  in  Proverbs  i.  24-32 : 
* '  Because  I  have  called,  and  ye  refused ;  I  have  stretched 
out  my  hand,  and  no  man  regarded  ;  but  ye  have  set  at 
nought  all  my  counsel    ....    when   distress  and  an- 


SEEKING  THE  LORD. 


125 


guish  Cometh  upon  you.  Then  shall  they  call  upon  me, 
but  I  will  not  answer;  they  shall  seek  me  early,  but 
they  shall  not  find  me. "  When  infinite  patience  gives 
us  up,  to  whom  shall  we  look  for  help?  When  the 
Spirit  of  grace,  long  grieved  and  resisted,  takes  his  sad 
flight,  what  is  left  us  but  the  darkness  of  eternity's  night? 

Delude  not  yourself  with  the  thought,  ' '  God  will  be 
too  merciful  to  let  me  suffer. ' '  He  solemnly  declares  he 
must.  Delude  not  yourself  with  the  hope  that  you  will 
have  another  trial  in  the  world  to  come.  There  is  no 
second  probation,  as  if  God  had  not  given  you  a  fair 
chance  here.  If  you  lose  now,  all  is  lost.  The  appeal 
of  the  rich  man  in  hell  to  Abraham  in  heaven,  and  the 
answer  given  back  to  the  lost  man,  forever  settles  it  as  a 
tremendous  fact,  that  when  once  we  cross  the  river  of 
death,  there  can  be  no  changes  in  our  destiny.  A  great 
gulf  rolls  between  heaven  and  hell,  and  they  **that 
would  come  from  thence ' '  will  find  that  it  is  forever 
impossible.  It  must  be  forever  true,  ' '  He  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  hath  eternal  life,  but  he  that  obeyeth  not  the 
Son,  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on 
him." 

Was  it  any  wonder  that  when  David  thought  of  the 
ungodly  going  to  such  a  doom  that  horror  should  take 
hold  upon  him  ?  That  Paul  could  not  speak  of  it  without 
weeping  ?  That  tears  of  divine  pity  should  have  fallen 
from  the  eyes  of  Jesus,  as  he  beheld  the  city  nearing 
destruction?  That  the  cry  should  be  wrung  from  the 
heart  of  God,  '*  How  can  I  give  thee  up?  "  Can  you 
then  treat  such  a  warning  lightly  ? 

The  hour  of  your  spiritual  death  may  come  long  before 
the  day  of  your  bodily  death.  Have  you  never  seen 
strong  trees  standing  on  the  hillside,  around  which  the 
axe  had  cut  a  broad  girdle,  severing  the  current  of  its 


126  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

life?  This  was  done  in  the  late  spring.  All  summer 
these  trees  waved  their  green  leaves  as  full  of  life  as  any 
that  stood  on  the  hillside.  Yet  all  who  looked  at  that 
white  girdle  knew  those  trees  were  dead.  So  may  men 
go  in  and  out  among  us,  they  may  be  active  in  their 
pursuits,  and  may  possess  much  that  is  attractive  in 
their  lives,  but  the  seal  of  spiritual  death  is  on  them. 
Achan  died  when  he  stole  the  wedge  of  gold,  before  his 
body  was  broken  with  the  stones  of  justice.  Ananias 
and  Sapphira  died  when  they  lied  to  the  Holy  Ghost, 
days  before  their  bodies  fell  at  Peter's  feet.  Herod  died 
when  he  put  away  John  the  Baptist's  warning  words, 
long  before  his  body  so  miserably  perished. 

' '  Spurn  not  the  call  to  life  and  light ; 
Regard  in  time  the  warning  kind ; 
That  call  thou  mayest  not  always  slight, 
And  yet  the  gate  of  mercy  find. 

"  Sinner  !  perhaps  this  very  day, 
Thy  last  accepted  time  may  be ; 
Oh  !  shouldst  thou  grieve  him  now  away, 
Then  hope  may  never  beam  on  thee." 

Oh !  God  is  near  us  now.  Souls  are  seeking  him,  and 
finding  him  near  ;  are  calling  on  him,  and  he  is  found  of 
them.  Shall  this  house  of  prayer  be  the  place  where 
you  shall  decide  against  him,  and  shall  it  be  in  this 
hushed  assembly  that  the  destiny  of  your  soul  shall  be 
fixed  ? 

Several  of  us  lads  went  one  day  to  see  a  railroad  bridge, 
which  the  workmen  were  then  building,  and  which  was 
said  to  be  the  highest  in  western  North  Carolina.  We 
were  standing  at  the  foot  of  the  highest  pillar,  guessing 
its  height.  The  foreman  came  to  us,  and  pointing  to 
some  bloody  marks  on  the  ground  said,  ' '  There  is  where 
one  of  the  workmen  fell  yesterday.     He  was  under  the 


SEEKING  THE  LORD.  127 

influence  of  drink  and  would  not  be  warned.  He  fell 
from  the  top  of  that  pillar,  and  here  is  where  we  picked 
up  his  crushed  body."  We  started  back  from  the  place. 
It  was  a  solemn  spot  to  us,  that  marked  where  the  man 
had  died. 

But  there  may  be  made  in  this  church,  while  we  are 
hearing  God's  invitation,  a  spot  far  more  solemn  ;  one  that 
shall  mark  the  place  where  an  immortal  soul  perished; 
one  over  which  you  will  weep  in  eternity,  and  say: 
**  There  I  refused  to  hear  God,  and  there  I  lost  my 
soul. ' ' 

Oh!  while  the  Spirit  is  whispering  in  your  heart, 
"To-day,  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your 
heart,"  while  Jesus  once  more  invites,  while  God  is 
near,  come !  come  !  Provoke  not  that  state  in  which  it 
will  be  impossible  to  renew  you  again  to  repentance. 
It  were  better  for  you,  if  you  had  never  been  born. 

Begin  now  to  seek  the  Lord.  Stop  and  think.  You 
cannot  stop  and  think  of  your  sin  and  ingratitude  against 
such  love  and  patience  without  coming  to  repentance. 
You  cannot  think  of  Jesus  bearing  your  guilt,  of  his 
suffering  and  death  for  you,  without  learning  to  love 
him  who  thus  first  loved  you.  "My  people  will  not 
consider  "  is  the  mournful  charge  Crod  brings  against  us. 
Therefore  does  he  entreat  us  to — "Come  now  let  us 
reason  together. "  "  Harden  not  your  heart, ' '  but 
"seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found;  call  ye 
upon  him  while  he  is  near. ' ' 


OUR   REDEEMER'S   PRAYER   FOR 
CHRISTIAN    UNITY. 

BY  RHV.  NEANDER  M.  WOODS,  D.  D., 
Pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Memphis,  Tenn. 


"That  they  all  may  be  one;  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I 
in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us:  that  the  world  may  be- 
lieve that  thou  hast  sent  me." — John  xvii.  21. 

A  RECENT  writer,  referring  to  the  prayer  of  Christ 
recorded  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  John's 
Gospel,  says,  "We  have  here  the  words  which 
Christ  addressed  to  God  in  the  critical  hour  of  his  Hfe — 
the  words  in  which  he  uttered  the  deepest  feeling  and 
thought  of  his  spirit,  clarified  and  concentrated  by  the 
prospect  of  death."  Melancthon,  the  great  Reformer, 
speaking  of  it,  says,  "There  is  no  voice  which  has  ever 
been  heard,  either  in  heaven  or  in  earth,  more  exalted, 
more  holy,  more  fruitful,  more  sublime,  than  this  prayer 
offered  up  by  the  Son  of  God  himself. ' '  In  recent  times 
more  than  one  devout  commentator  has  expressed  the 
sentiment  that  when  we  stand  within  the  precincts  of 
this  profound  passage  of  God's  v^^ord  we  are  on  holy- 
ground,  yea,  in  the  very  Holy  of  Holies.  It  becomes  us, 
therefore,  as  we  enter  upon  the  consideration  of  a  por- 
tion of  this  wonderful  prayer,  to  take  off  the  shoes  from 
our  feet,  and  to  invoke  the  Spirit  of  all  grace  to  bestow 
upon  us  that  deep  humility  and  reverence  of  mind  we 
would  need  in  coming  into  the  very  presence  of  God. 
As  we  proceed,  let  us  also  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  this 

128 


. ,-.  0 


OUR  redeemer's  prayer,  etc.       129 

prayer  is  a  part  of  Christ's  ofl&cial  ministration  as  our 
divinely  authorized  Intercessor  and  High  Priest  before  the 
throne  of  God.  The  prayer  consists  of  several  distinct 
portions,  and  I  shall  now  ask  your  particular  attention 
to  those  four  verses  (20-23)  which  relate  to  the  oneness 
or  believers. 

Never,  perhaps,  since  the  apostolic  age,  has  there 
been  manifested  throughout  Christendom  at  large  so 
deep  an  interest  in  the  subject  of  Christian  union  as  has 
been  witnessed  during  this  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  indications  to  which  I  allude  are  such  as 
the  following,  to- wit:  the  growth,  among  Christians  of 
widely  separated  faiths,  of  a  larger  tolerance  of  each  other '  s 
divergencies  of  belief;  an  increased  readiness  on  the  part 
of  various  denominations  to  seek  closer  fellowship  with 
brethren  from  whom  they  have  long  been  estranged ;  the 
marked  falling  off  in  the  number  and  acrimony  of  polem- 
ical discussions  ;  and  a  more  general  desire  for  the  oblit- 
eration of  all  separating  walls  not  actually  demanded  by 
loyalty  to  essential  truth.  Whilst  candor  obliges  us  to 
admit  that  much  which  passes  for  zeal  in  behalf  of 
Christian  union  has  no  better  foundation  than  gross  ig- 
norance of  the  grave  issues  involved,  or  culpable  indiff- 
erence to  sound  doctrine,  it  is  still  true  that  the  prevail- 
ing sentiment  of  the  Christian  world  to-day  in  regard  to 
the  sin  of  schism  is  in  closer  accord  with  the  mind  of 
Christ  than  was  that  of  former  generations.  Neverthe- 
less, the  moment  one  attempts  to  locate  the  blame  for 
the  numberless  divisions  now  marring  the  body  of  Christ, 
or  even  to  suggest  a  remedy,  a  storm  of  discussion  arises 
at  once,  revealing  only  too  plainly  that  the  day  for  the 
complete  healing  of  Zion's  sorrows  is  yet  far  in  the 
future.  This  fact,  however,  should  not  discourage  those 
who  pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  for  the  real  pro- 


130  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

gress  alread}^  noted  within  the  last  half  century  is  full  of 
promise  for  the  coming  years,  and  it  may  well  stimulate 
the  hope  that  Christ's  prayer  will  surely  be  realized  at 
last. 

The  first  question  to  be  considered  is :  What  is  the 
precise  character  of  that  oneness  which  our  Saviour  here 
has  in  mind?  To  what  extent,  and  in  what  sense,  does 
he  desire  all  his  followers  to  become  one? 

I .  Whatever  the  oneness  was  to  which  he  had  refer- 
ence, it  was  something  which,  at  the  moment  he  spoke, 
had  not  been  realized  in  full  perfection  among  his  then 
living  disciples.  This  seems  to  follow,  not  merely  from 
the  fact  that  he  did  not  assert  that  it  was  then  in  exis- 
tence, but  because  he  asked  his  Father  to  create  or  be- 
stow it.  At  the  time  Christ  offered  this  prayer  he  had 
some  hundreds  of  genuine  disciples  in  Palestine,  who 
for  months  or  years  had  been  savingly  converted.  These 
persons,  from  the  very  instant  of  their  renewal  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  by  virtue  thereof,  were  unquestionably- 
one  in  several  vital  respects.  They  were  all  one  in  their 
regeneration  by  the  same  divine  Spirit ;  one  in  their 
union  by  faith  with  the  same  Redeemer;  and  one  in 
their  possession  of  an  indefeasible  title  to  the  same  in- 
heritance of  everlasting  life.  Surely,  all  these  unspeak- 
able precious  features  of  a  true  spiritual  oneness  belonged 
to  each  and  every  one  of  those  disciples  before  Christ 
offered  this  prayer ;  and  by  no  possibility  could  that  one- 
ness be  diminished,  much  less  lost.  There  were  other 
features  of  oneness,  however,  which  they  certainly  did  not 
yet  possess,  and  which  the}'  would  have  to  have  before 
they  could  all  be  perfectly  one.  We  know  that  at  that 
moment  the  Christians  then  in  the  world  did  not  even 
enjoy  that  oneness  of  external  organization  which  our 
Lord  gave  them  a  few  weeks  later  by  the  hands  of  his 


OUR  redeemer's  prayer,  etc.       131 

inspired  apostles.  Not  until  after  the  day  of  Pentecost 
were  the  Christians  welded  into  one  body  called  the 
Church  of  Christ,  having  one  set  of  oiBBcers  and  one  set 
of  rules  and  ordinances  to  serve  as  a  common  bond  of 
union.  But  more  than  this,  the  Christians  then  Uving 
were  very  far,  indeed,  from  being  entirely  one  in  their 
apprehension  of  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  Neither 
were  they  completely  one  in  harmonious,  brotherly  fel- 
lowship. Not  to  mention  the  unseemly  self-seeking  and 
contention  among  the  apostles  themselves  in  regard  to 
the  places  of  honor  in  Christ's  kingdom,  which  he  had 
had  to  rebuke,  we  learn  from  the  sacred  records  in  Acts 
and  the  Epistles  that  in  a  little  while  two  factions  arose 
within  the  bosom  of  the  infant  church,  the  one  composed 
of  Jewish  and  the  other  of  Gentile  converts ;  and  before 
the  first  century  is  half  gone  we  find  the  apostles  con- 
suming much  of  their  time  reproving  schismatics,  and 
trying  to  reconcile  alienated  brethren  in  various  portions 
of  the  church.  One  need  only  peruse  the  several  books  of 
the  New  Testament  in  order  to  discover  the  humiliating 
truth  that  good  Christian  people  can  take  diametrically 
opposite  views  of  almost  every  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  and 
can  divide  the  church  into  rival  sects  and  factions  until 
sensible  men  of  the  world  are  puzzled  to  understand  how 
all  these  warring  elements  can  possibly  be  one  in  any 
vital  sense  whatever.  In  view  of  these  admitted  facts, 
whilst  we  are  unable  to  see  why  our  Redeemer  should 
take  up  the  closing  hours  of  his  earthly  ministry  in  beg- 
ging his  Father  to  make  believers  one  in  those  respects 
in  which  they  were  already  and  necessarily  such  by  vir- 
tue of  their  new  birth,  we  can  see  abundant  reason -why 
he  should  pray  that  they  all  might  be  made  one  in  their 
understanding  of  all  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  the 
gospel,  one  in  every  essential  particular  of  their  church 


132  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

life,  one  in  their  harmonious,  brotherly  fellowship,  and 
one  in  their  plans  and  labors  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
human  race.  Therefore,  it  becomes  us  to  view  with  dis- 
trust all  those  interpretations  of  this  great  intercessory 
prayer  which  represent  our  Lord  as  asking  his  Father  to 
bestow  upon  believers  something  they  already  possessed, 
and  yet  making  no  special  requests  for  other  important 
elements  of  oneness  without  which  they  could  never 
hope  to  bring  the  world  to  his  feet. 

2.  A  second  characteristic  of  the  oneness  for  which 
Christ  prayed  is  that  it  is  the  exclusive  possession  of 
regenerate  persons.  None  but  believers  can  either  share 
this  oneness  or  fully  understand  it.  Our  Lord  wants 
men  to  know  that  true  Christian  unity  is  something 
divine  and  sacred.  God  may  and  does  use  men  as  his 
instruments  in  bringing  it  to  pass,  but  it  is  a  work  of 
divine  grace.  Hence  no  man  can  bring  himself  into  the 
charmed  circle  of  Christian  unity  merely  by  uniting  with 
a  Christian  church.  Now,  unless  this  simple  truth  is 
clearly  seen,  we  are  certain  to  fall  into  confusion  of 
thought  when  we  come  to  deal  with  the  matter  of  Chris- 
tian union.  One  great  trouble  arises  from  the  well- 
known  fact  that  the  purest  Christian  churches  on  earth 
contain  a  good  many  spurious  members.  It  is  also  true 
that  in  some  of  the  most  corrupt  churches  there  is  only 
a  very  small  proportion  of  really  regenerate  persons.  It 
is  easy,  therefore,  to  understand  that  mere  oneness  of 
outward  organization  might  have  no  real  connection  with 
true  Christian  union.  Hence  the  attempt  of  some  good 
men  in  our  day  to  bring  together,  in  one  grand  world- 
wide church,  all  the  scattered  and  opposing  Christian 
bodies,  regardless  of  their  wide  divergencies  as  to  faith, 
polity  and  worship,  is  the  very  wildest  of  dreams.  Such 
an  enterprise,  if  carried  out,  would  probably  do  no  more 


OUR  redeemer's  prayer,  etc.       133 

to  further  true  unity  than  would  the  consoHdation  of  a 
Christian  denomination  with  some  great  poHtical  party. 
In  order  to  unite  two  or  more  bodies  to  any  good  pur- 
pose, a  large  majority  of  the  members  thereof  must  be,  in 
the  judgment  of  charity,  real  Christians ;  they  must  be 
substantially  agreed  as  to  all  essentials  of  the  Bible; 
and  there  must  be  such  a  general  degree  of  harmony  in 
regard  to  the  details  of  church  life  as  gives  promise  of 
good  results.  The  practical  significance  and  use  of  this 
condition  attached  to  true  oneness  which  confines  it  with- 
in the  circle  of  believers,  is  not  to  prohibit  the  union  of 
now  separate  churches  merely  because  some  spurious 
members  are  on  their  rolls,  but  to  admonish  us  that  one- 
ness of  outward  organization  is  not  the  synonym  of 
Christian  unity.  This  outward  oneness  is,  at  best,  only 
one  means  to  the  true  inward  oneness,  and  it  will  even 
prove  worthless  in  that  respect  unless,  in  our  attempt  to 
heal  division,  we  are  loyal  to  the  whole  truth  of  God, 
and  exercise  sound  common  sense. 

3.  The  third  and  most  wonderful  characteristic  of  that 
oneness  which  Christ  prayed  the  Father  to  bestow  upon 
all  true  believers  is  an  absolute  completeness  which  has 
Its  analogy  in  the  perfect  unity  existing  between  the 
Father  and  the  Son.  The  language  our  Lord  here  em- 
ploys to  set  forth  the  intimacy  and  divine  perfectness  of 
this  unity  of  believers  is  altogether  remarkable  in  its 
varied  iterations.  First,  he  prays  for  believers  in  every 
age  of  the  world — ''that  they  all  may  be  one;  as  thou. 
Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be 
one  in  us."  Then  a  little  farther  on  he  varies  the  ex- 
pression somewhat — "that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we 
are  one ;  I  in  them  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be 
made  perfect  in  one."  Of  course  all  will  agree  that 
there  is  a  mysterious  sense  in  which  creatures  could  not 


134  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

become  precisely  like  the  Godhead,  but  it  would  seem 
perfectly  clear  that  these  words  of  our  Redeemer  con- 
template a  oneness  of  believers  in  respect  to  all  the 
things  of  salvation  which  in  its  utmost  reach  must  ex- 
clude all  divergency  of  doctrinal  belief  and  Christian 
practice,  and  everything  akin  to  rivalry  or  division.  Can 
we  conceive  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  as  having  oppo- 
site views  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  of  church  govern- 
ment, or  of  the  methods  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
world  ?  Do  they  find  two  diiferent  sets  of  truths  in  the 
Bible  ?  Is  it  even  thinkable  that  they  should  ever  come 
into  the  slightest  collision  in  respect  to  any  feature  of 
church  life?  Surely  not.  But  Christ's  request  is  that 
his  disciples  shall  be  one  even  as  he  and  his  Father  are 
one.  More  than  this  he  could  not  ask.  He  does  not 
ask  that  his  people  shall  merely  bear  a  general  family 
likeness  or  be  one  in  some  essential  respects,  but  that 
they  shall  become  as  completely  one  as  the  Father  and 
Son  are  one.  He  does  not  ask  merely  that  Christians 
of  various  bodies  may  learn  to  exhibit  kindly  tolerance 
of  each  others  diverse  beliefs,  for  his  prayer  contemplates 
the  abandonment  of  all  wrong  beliefs,  so  that  there  will 
be  no  opposing  beliefs  needing  our  tolerance.  But  what 
view  did  the  inspired  apostles  of  Christ  take  of  this  mat- 
ter ?  Did  they  make  apologies  for  the  differences  they 
witnessed  among  Christians  so  long  as  the}^  did  not 
utterly  subvert  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  grace? 
Did  they  speak  or  act  as  if  it  were  no  sin  to  organize 
separate  churches  so  long  as  the  differences  related  only 
to  the  form  of  government,  or  the  forms  of  worship,  or 
the  mode  of  baptism  ?  Listen  to  the  way  Paul  talked  to 
the  Corinthians  who  were  disposed  to  array  themselves 
in  parties  under  the  names  of  even  inspired  apostles : 
"Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  name  of  our  Lord 


OUR  redeemer's  prayer,  etc.       135 

Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  all  speak  the  same  thing,  and  that 
there  be  no  divisions  among  you;  but  that  ye  be  per- 
fectly joined  together  in  the  same  mind  and  in  the  same 
judgment."  (i  Cor.  i.  10.)  A  little  farther  on  (i  Cor. 
iii.  1-4),  referring  to  the  same  differences  at  Corinth,  he 
says:  "And  I,  brethren,  could  not  speak  unto  you  as 
unto  spiritual,  but  as  unto  carnal,  even  as  unto  babes  in 
Christ.  ...  for  whereas  there  is  among  you  envying, 
and  strife,  and  divisions,  are  ye  not  carnal,  and  walk  as 
men?  For  while  one  saith,  I  am  of  Paul;  and  another, 
I  am  of  ApoUos  ;  are  ye  not  carnal  ?  "  It  is  but  just  to 
affirm  that  the  differences  to  which  Paul  here  refers  were 
of  no  graver  kind  than  some  of  those  which  now  divide 
various  evangelical  denominations  of  Christians  in  our 
own  land.  That  he  would  have  condemned  as  ' '  carnal ' ' 
the  persons  who  are  responsible  for  these  modem  divi- 
sions as  he  did  those  schismatics  at  Corinth  seems  abso- 
lutely certain.  And  it  seems  equally  certain  that  this 
blessed  prayer  of  our  Redeemer  contemplates  the  com- 
plete obliteration  of  all  these  divisions  to  the  end  that  his 
people  may  become  one  even  as  he  and  his  Father  are 
one.  He  did  not  specify  the  date  at  which  he  expected 
the  complete  realization  of  his  heart's  desire  for  Christian 
union  ;  but  we  feel  sure  it  will  be  realized  in  absolute 
perfection  in  heaven,  and  that  the  realization  of  it  then 
will  be  the  culmination  of  a  long  series  of  prayers  and 
labors  running  through  ages  of  faithful  use  of  means  on 
the  part  of  his  dear  people,  whom  he  hath  made  co- 
workers together  with  himself.  In  this  vast  enterprise, 
as  in  the  matter  of  our  own  sanctification,  and  in  that  of 
the  conversion  of  the  world  to  Christ,  the  work  is  of 
God,  and  must  advance  by  gradual  steps;  but  each 
Christian  has  an  important  part  to  perform,  and  there 
can  be  no  surer  evidence  of  our  own  renewal  than  a  con- 


136  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

stant,  longing  desire  to  see  Christ's  people  made  truly 
one. 

4.  A  single  other  feature  of  the  oneness  Christ  prayed 
for  will  be  mentioned,  namely  :  It  is  not  something  con- 
cealed in  the  hearts  of  believers,  but  it  is  something 
which,  like  the  fragrant  ointment,  bewrayeth  itself;  like 
the  city  set  upon  a  hill,  which  cannot  possibly  be  hid. 
The  unbelieving  world  will  be  forced  to  take  knowledge 
of  it,  and  it  will  have  a  marvellous  efficacy  to  convince 
men  that  the  religion  we  profess  is  from  God.  Thus  it 
will  avail  to  achieve  what  ages  of  arguments  and  preach- 
ments have  signally  failed  to  effect — it  will  be  a  gigantic 
object  lesson  which  shall  be  read  of  him  that  runneth. 
The  plain  inference  is  that  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
sectarian  divisions  of  Christianity  which  we  have  in  our 
own  land  to-day  are  fearful  obstacles  to  the  conversion  of 
the  world.  Is  it  not  a  striking  confirmation  of  the  jus- 
tice of  this  inference  to  note  the  fact  that  all  the  mission- 
aries of  the  various  churches  who  go  out  into  the  heathen 
world  to  persuade  benighted  men  to  turn  from  their  cor- 
rupt faiths  to  Christ  are  generally  embarrassed  when 
intelligent  heathen  demand  the  explanation  of  all  these 
distinct  and  rival  organizations,  and  ask  why  it  is  that 
the  servants  of  the  one  Redeemer  must  needs  carry  such 
diverse  flags  ?  And  it  is  no  matter  for  surprise  that  we 
find,  in  some  instances,  ministers,  whose  brethren  at 
home  stoutly  oppose  closer  relations  with  other  bodies  of 
similar  faith  and  order,  driven  by  the  very  exigencies  of 
the  foreign  work  to  trample  their  theories  under  their 
feet  so  as  to  hide  from  the  keen  eyes  of  perishing  pagans 
the  differences  which,  at  home,  may  be  even  cherished 
as  too  precious  to  be  allowed  to  vanish.  Out  there  on 
the  frontier  the  true  soldiers  of  Christ  see  that  in  union 
there  is  strength  ;  and  the  lesson  which  we  at  home  need 


OUR  redeemer's  prayer,  etc.      137 

to  learn  is  that  if  the  milHons  of  unevangelized  people  in 
this  so-called  Christian  land  are  ever  to  be  savingly  im- 
pressed, the  church  must  present  an  unbroken  front  as 
the  one  army  of  the  living  God.  In  this  republic,  to- 
day, we  have  seventeen  millions  of  voters.  This,  of 
course,  leaves  entirely  out  of  view  all  the  female  part  of 
our  population,  and  all  males  under  twenty-one  years 
old.  The  later  census  shows  that  on  the  rolls  of  all  the 
various  churches.  Catholic  and  Protestant,  there  are  less 
than  four  and  a  quarter  millions  of  these  voters.  That 
is  to  say,  after  generations  of  effort,  and  with  all  our 
church  machinery,  not  much  more  than  one- fourth  of 
the  people  of  this  land  are  even  church  members.  Christ 
teaches  us  that  the  oneness  of  Christians  can  answer  the 
scepticism  of  men  as  nothing  else  can,  provided  it  be 
visible  and  unmistakable.  Our  reliance,  then,  is  not  to 
be  mainly  on  oratory,  or  learning,  or  fine  churches,  or 
even  that  ' '  generous  rivalry ' '  of  the  several  denomina- 
tions of  which  we  hear  so  much  in  so-called  union  meet- 
ings, but  of  which  we  find  not  one  word  of  approval  in 
the  Bible — our  reliance,  I  say,  is  not  to  be  mainly  on 
these  things,  but  on  that  glorious  heaven-born  unity  of 
the  followers  of  Christ  which  is  able  to  silence  the  voice 
of  scepticism  and  usher  in  the  millennial  day. 

Having  endeavored  to  set  before  you  a  faithful  re- 
presentation of  the  Christian  unity  our  Lord  prayed  for, 
I  now  desire  to  point  out  what  seem  to  be  the  principal 
means  we  should  employ  in  cooperating  with  God  to 
bring  that  unity  to  pass.  I  assume,  as  beyond  all  dis- 
pute, that  in  this  gigantic  undertaking,  as  in  that  of  ex- 
tending Christ's  kingdom  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  you 
•and  I  and  all  other  Christians  are  solemnly  bound  to  use 
the  means  within  our  reach.  It  is  not  the  sword  of  the 
Lord,  much  less  the  sword  of  Gideon,  that  is  to  smite  to 


138  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

the  earth  the  confederated  hosts  of  bigotry,  pride,  igno- 
rance and  hate,  but  it  is  "  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of 
(xideon  " — a  sword  which  our  puny  hands  must  wield, 
but  all  whose  efficacy  is  due  to  the  power  of  Almighty 
God. 

I.  I  sincerely  believe  that  the  very  first  important 
means  of  furthering  this  glorious  oneness  is  to  bring  our- 
selves to  see  clearly  that  schism  in  all  its  forms  is  a  high- 
handed sin  against  God.  When  can  we  be  fairly  said  to 
be  guilty  of  the  sin  of  schism  ?  We  commit  this  sin 
whenever  we  teach  or  sanction  ruinous  error,  or  lay 
unjust  burdens  upon  the  consciences  of  our  brethren,  so 
as  to  drive  them  out  of  our  communion.  We  commit 
this  sin  whenever  we  withdraw  from  the  church  and 
create  a  new  sect  by  reason  of  our  having  cherished  un- 
christian feelings  towards  brethren,  or  adopted  unscrip- 
tural  opinions.  We  may  also  commit  this  sin  by  throwing 
our  influence  against  an  honorable  settlement  of  differ- 
ences which  could  be  healed  but  for  our  obstinacy  or 
resentment.  The  sin  of  schism  is  distinctly  pointed  out 
and  condemned  in  the  New  Testament.  This  is  true 
even  where  the  errors  referred  to  did  not  involve  the 
surrender  of  fundamental  truth,  but  consisted  mostly  of 
the  display  of  a  spirit  of  strife  and  dissension.  Paul  re- 
fers to  this  sin  in  his  closing  exhortations  to  the  church  at 
Rome  (Romans  xvi.  17,  18).  He  says  :  '*  I  beseech  you, 
brethren,  mark  them  which  cause  divisions  and  offences 
contrary  to  the  doctrine  which  ye  have  learned ;  and 
avoid  them.  For  they  that  are  such  serve  not  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  but  their  own  belly."  In  his  enumeration 
of  "the  works  of  the  flesh  "  (Galatians  v.  20)  Paul  men- 
tions some  of  the  very  evils  which  have  been  at  the 
bottom  of  almost  every  division  that  ever  occurred  since 
the  ascension  of  our  Lord,  namely,    "hatred,   variance. 


OUR  redeemer's  prayer,  etc.      139 

emulations,  wrath,  strife,  seditions,  heresies,  .  .  .  they 
which  do  such  things  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God."  Sin  or  culpable  ignorance,  one  or  both,  have 
been  the  causes  of  all  the  divisions  now  disfiguring  the 
Bride  of  Christ.  The  degree  of  guilt  greatly  varies,  we 
doubt  not,  but  somebody's  folly  or  sin  has  in  every  case 
been  responsible  for  the  creation  of  new  sects.  Yet  we 
often  hear  the  prevalent  divisions  of  Christendom  spoken 
of  in  terms  of  great  praise,  as  if  they  were  in  themselves 
quite  desirable.  We  are  told  that  for  men  of  different 
tastes  and  diverse  mental  structure,  etc.,  rival  denomina- 
tions are  beneficial.  If  it  were  only  contended  that  so 
long  as  men  remain  blinded  by  sin  and  prejudice  these 
divisions  are  far  better  than  compelling  all  men  to  join 
one  outward  organization,  we  could  agree  to  the  state- 
ment. The  trouble  is  that  much  of  the  talk  we  hear 
directly  encourages  schism  by  depriving  sectarian  sepa- 
ration of  its  repulsive  ugliness.  This  argument,  how- 
ever, proves  too  much.  If  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
existing  divisions  of  Christians  in  America  be  desirable, 
and  if  it  is  unwise  to  have  any  one  remain  in  a  church 
because  he  happens  to  cherish  some  views  unlike  those 
of  his  brethren,  then  each  of  the  existing  denominations 
could  profitably  be  subdivided,  and  instead  of  a  paltry 
hundred  and  fifty  sects  we  could  easily  have  a  thousand, 
with  their  multiplied  machinery  and  consequent  waste  of 
energy.  Here,  as  often  elsewhere,  it  behooves  us  to 
turn  away  from  the  theories  of  men  to  God's  word,  and 
to  inquire  how  this  matter  was  practically  handled  by 
the  inspired  apostles  whom  Christ  chose  to  organize  the 
church  a  few  weeks  after  his  departure  from  this  world. 
We  know  that  the  apostles  at  Pentecost  and  soon  after 
had  thousands  of  new  converts  to  deal  with,  representa- 
tives of  both   Judaism  and   Paganism,   and  from  every 


140  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

nation  under  heaven.  There  were  men  of  all  races,  and 
classes,  and  civilizations,  and  religious  antecedents.  If 
ever  there  was  a  motley  crowd  on  earth  it  was  that  one. 
If  ever  there  was  an  occasion  when  the  beauties  of  sepa- 
rate denominational  lines  would  have  been  visible,  it 
was  then  and  there.  But  those  earnest  apostles  pro- 
ceeded to  organize  but  one  church  for  the  whole  world, 
and  as  the  work  of  organization  and  moulding  went  on 
they  built  up  in  all  parts  of  the  vast  Roman  empire 
churches  with  but  a  single  creed,  and  precisely  alike  in 
every  essential  particular.  Nor  was  this  all :  they  jeal- 
ously guarded  this  one  church  to  preserve  it  intact ;  and 
as  soon  as  the  apostles  discovered  signs  of  schism,  they 
boldly  denounced  the  guilty  parties  as  the  enemies  of 
Christ,  and  urged  all  the  brethren  to  hold  fast  to  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  them,  and  remain  in  the  church 
Christ's  apostles  had  founded.  That  was  the  apostolic 
method,  and  it  was  as  unlike  the  methods  of  modern 
schismatics  as  the  day  is  unlike  night.  I  grant  that 
fidelity  to  essential  truth  does  demand  separation,  and 
the  innocent  parties  are  not  schismatics.  Our  Saviour 
did,  indeed,  say:  "It  is  impossible  but  that  offences 
will  come,"  and  yet  he  added,  in  the  same  breath,  "but 
woe  unto  him  through  whom  they  come  !  It  were  bet- 
ter for  him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck 
and  he  cast  into  the  sea."  Until  Christians  shall  have 
made  vast  progress  in  both  knowlege  and  holiness  the 
church  is  going  to  be  marred  and  crippled  by  denomina- 
tional rivalries  and  divisions ;  but  the  only  consistent 
view  to  take  of  these  divisions  is  that  they  are,  at  best, 
necessary  evils — necessary  only  for  the  guiltless  ones 
who  could  not  heal  these  divisions  without  compro- 
mising essential  truth,  and  excusable  even  as  to  them 
only  so   far   as   they  maintain   their   blamelessness   by 


OUR  REDEEMER  S  PRAYER,  ETC.         141 

standing  ever  ready  to  do  everything  consistent  with 
loyalty  to  truth  in  order  to  come  into  closer  relations 
with  all  brethren  from  whom  they  now  are  separated. 

2.  A  second  means  of  advancing  the  cause  of  true  one- 
ness among  Christians  is  to  school  ourselves  habitually 
to  think  of  every  believer  under  the  whole  heaven  as  our 
brother  and  fellow-heir,  entirely  regardless  of  his  church 
relations.  No  matter  where  men  live,  and  no  matter  of 
what  race  or  religion  they  may  be,  if  they  do  really  love 
our  Saviour  they  are  united  to  Christ  jby  indissoluble 
bonds,  and  we  are  unspeakably  near  to  each  other,  and 
are  to  spend  eternity  together  in  loving  fellowship  in  the 
perfected  kingdom  of  God.  They  and  we  may  be  far 
apart  as  respects  our  training,  habits,  feelings  and  reli- 
gious activities,  but  we  are  completely  and  forever  one 
in  several  most  vital  particulars,  and  the  time  is  abso- 
lutely certain  to  come  when  we  shall  look  into  each 
others  faces  with  joy,  and  wonder  how  we  could  ever 
have  had  any  other  than  the  utmost  tenderness  of  feeling 
towards  each  other,  or  been  unwilling  to  bear  patiently 
with  each  others  blindness  and  follies.  I  love  to  think 
that  even  in  the  most  corrupt  communions  of  Christen- 
dom there  are  those  who  are  looking  for  eternal  life  to 
that  very  Jesus  who  is  the  only  hope  of  my  own  sinful 
self,  and  who  rejoice  with  me  in  the  hope  of  that  same 
glory  which  is  to  be  revealed  when  he  comes  again. 
The  very  thought  of  this  blessed  tie,  binding  us  to  all 
others  who  believe,  will  help  us  to  stifle  the  ungracious 
and  spiteful  words  which  sometimes  press  for  utterance, 
and  cause  us  to  welcome  every  occasion  when  we  may, 
without  dishonor,  get  closer  to  them.  The  prevalence 
of  such  feelings  in  the  hearts  of  Christians  generally 
would  soon  awaken  longings  for  the  removal  of  every 
needless    wall    of    separation,    and    prove    the    harbin- 


142  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

ger  of  a    more   glorious   day  for   the   church  of  Christ 
on  earth. 

3.  Among  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  means  we  can 
employ  for  the  furtherance  of  true  Christian  union  is 
prayer.  The  inspired  Psalmist  exhorts  us  to  pray  for 
the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  and  adds  the  promise  that  they 
that  love  her  shall  prosper.  In  one  of  the  Beatitudes  our 
Saviour  has  declared  the  peace-makers  to  be  peculiarly 
blessed,  for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God.  The 
transformations  which  must  precede  the  realization  of 
true  oneness  are  so  vast  that  as  we  contemplate  them  we 
are  led  to  exclaim,  ' '  Behold,  if  the  Lord  would  make  win- 
dows in  heaven,  might  this  thing  be?"  But  the  ear  of 
our  God  is  not  dull  of  hearing,  neither  is  his  arm  short- 
ened that  it  cannot  save.  When  Carey,  the  great  Baptist 
missionary,  took  leave  of  England  a  century  ago  to  at- 
tempt the  conversion  of  India  to  Christ,  even  good 
brethren  shook  their  heads  as  though  the  task  were  too 
great  even  to  be  considered  at  all.  But  lo !  what  hath 
God  wrought  in  one  century,  even  with  his  church  all 
disabled  and  hampered  by  endless  divisions  and  unbe- 
lief! That  almighty  power,  which  has  already  moved 
mountains  in  the  foreign  field,  can  cause  mountains  here 
in  Christian  lands  to  depart  and  be  removed  into  the 
midst  of  the  sea ;  and  when  we  reflect  that  above  and 
behind  us  stands  the  Great  Intercessor  perpetually  offer- 
ing that  same  prayer  for  the  oneness  of  his  people,  and 
pleading  the  merit  of  his  infinite  sacrifice,  our  hearts 
may  well  take  courage.  Let  us  accustom  ourselves  to 
pray  often  and  earnestly  to  God  for  the  enlightenment 
and  sanctification  of  his  people  in  every  one  of  his 
churches ;  that  every  false  conception  of  the  truth  and 
every  mistaken  policy  may  be  abandoned ;  that  all  of  us 
who  are  in  the  wrong  may  not  only  have  eyes  to  see  it» 


OUR  redeemer's  prayer,  etc.       143 

but  the  grace  and  courage  to  confess  it ;  and  that  all  of 
us  may,  when  constrained  to  contend  earnestly  for  what 
we  sincerely  believe  to  be  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints,  seek  to  be  scrupulously  fair,  and  always  speak 
the  truth  in  love.  Who  can  believe  that  such  prayers  as 
these  would  be  in  vain?  No  doubt  the  changes  which 
must  pave  the  way  for  the  reunion  of  Christendom  will 
be  gradual,  and  all  of  us  now  living  must  die  without 
being  permitted  to  witness  the  full  consummation  of  our 
hopes,  but  it  could  surely  add  no  thorns  to  our  dying 
pillows  to  reflect  that  we  had  loved  the  church  for  which 
Jesus  died,  and  had  done  what  we  could  to  make  her  a 
praise  in  the  earth. 

I  might,  if  time  permitted,  dwell  upon  yet  other  means 
of  advancing  the  cause  of  true  oneness ;  as,  for  example, 
joining  heartily  in  every  worthy  Christian  and  philanthro- 
pic enterprise  with  our  brethren  of  other  denominations, 
in  which  no  compromise  of  principle  would  be  made ;  re- 
cognizing, as  far  as  we  consistently  can,  the  ordinances 
and  churchly  character  of  all  evangelical  bodies ;  and 
abstaining,  as  far  as  possible,  from  all  ungracious  inter- 
ference with  the  enterprises  of  other  churches.  But  I 
must  conclude  this  discourse  with  two  needful  cautions, 
to- wit:  The  first  caution  is  that  we  should  never,  for 
one  moment,  imagine  that  the  interests  of  Christian- 
ity can  be  furthered  by  hiding  our  colors  or  obscuring 
any  doctrine  of  the  gospel  for  fear  that  some  whom  we 
wish  to  conciliate  may  be  offended.  Be  assured  that 
when  at  last  unity  shall  be  perfectly  realized  in  heaven  it 
can  have  no  other  basis  than  the  truth  of  God  as  we 
have  it  in  the  Bible.  And  the  attempt  to  keep  in  the 
background  any  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  would 
not  only  be  a  cowardly  artifice,  but  would,  in  the  end, 
prove  an  obstacle  to  real  oneness.     You  might  as  well 


144  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

seek  to  harmonize  the  solar  system  by  blotting  some  of 
the  planets  from  the  universe ;  you  would  only  intro- 
duce new  complications,  ruinous  in  their  results.  What- 
ever we  do,  let  us,  with  the  apostle,  shun  not  to  declare 
the  w^hole  counsel  of  God  with  frankness  and  fairness, 
and  out  of  loving  hearts.  The  other  caution,  close  akin 
to  that,  is  to  beware  of  allowing  our  desire  for  Christian 
union  to  render  us  lifeless  and  half-hearted  in  our  efforts 
in  behalf  of  the  denomination  to  which  we  belong.  It 
has  been  the  observ^ation  of  many  pastors  that  the  amia- 
ble people  who  say  they  love  one  church  as  well  as 
another,  soon  reveal  their  emptiness  by  loving  no  church 
well  enough  to  be  willing  to  render  it  much  service.  It 
is  possible  to  be  warmly  devoted  to  one's  own  church 
and  at  the  same  time  to  love  the  whole  of  God's  scattered 
family.  The  ancient  Spartans  had  this  motto:  "Sparta 
is  thy  portion  ;  do  thy  best  for  Sparta ' ' ;  and  so  long  as 
yours  is,  all  in  all,  the  best  church  you  are  acquainted 
with,  you  will  do  well  to  make  that  motto  your  own. 
In  all  our  labors,  however,  in  behalf  of  the  church  of 
Christ  let  us  never  lose  hope  in  regard  to  the  final  reali- 
zation of  Christian  unity.  The  faint  streaks  of  light 
already  visible  give  promise  of  the  coming  day.  The 
Great  Intercessor  ever  lives  to  plead ;  and  as  sure  as  God's 
promise  stands  fast,  every  wall  of  separation  must  crum- 
ble, and  all  the  followers  of  Christ  be  made  one. 


DlVINENEbS  Ol-   I  ML  i 


rasior  a 


BY  !a:\ 

■  rankliji-:-' 


URKl.A^ 


"I  tbaoK:  v,x()u,  wfjoui  \  serv 
conscience." — 2  Tim.  i.  3. 

OF  the  social  order  which  is  to  rul^ 
one  glimpse  has  been  discloseil 

unit  of  the  new  Jerusalem,  ns  : 
earth,  is    lot  the  individual,  but  thv 
cause  I   bow  my  knees  unto  the   1 
Jesus  Christ,  from  whom  ever}'  fami 
earth  is  named.     The  church  of  the  i 
is  bound  together  by  personal  relat; 
tions  which  make  home  and  kindred 
aught  we  know,  the  innumerable   cor; 
who  have  kept  their  first  estate,  alb<  " 
no  common  head  and  unbound  by  ti^ 
may  yet  rank  themselves  in  househ* 
breast  of  the  ecliptic  the  stars 
which  borrow  shape  and  name  , 
the  celestial  society,  the  unque 
forever  in  the  s]'i ritual  firmame. 
defined  circles  o^  the  Home,     T 
many  mansions  in  which  tl; 
changed.      From  the  Fn  ■ 
earth  is  named.     We  ; 
produce  the  fine  pl;i 
leaps  from  word  to  wora.  i  ;u ii 

10  145 


146  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

the  divine  Father  and  the  heavenly  family.  Pater — 
Pabia.  They  are  forms  of  the  same  word.  The  family 
has  a  right  to  the  name,  because  it  draws  its  being  from 
the  father,  and  both  by  descent  and  name  the  family 
bond  is  entitled  to  be  called  divine. 

I  thank  God,  whom  I  serve  from  my  forefathers,  for 
the  sacredness,  the  divineness  of  this,  the  strongest  bond 
on  earth. 

Let  us  emphasize  the  divineness  and  far-reaching 
power  of  this  bond.  For  in  it  rest  the  pillars  of  our  social 
order.  On  the  recognition  of  its  inviolability  depends  the 
future  of  the  nation  and  of  the  world.  On  it  reposes  the 
grandeur  of  the  House  of  God.  The  vigor  and  aggress- 
ive power  of  the  church  are  conditioned  by  the  moral 
tone  of  the  family.  The  vitality  of  the  congregation  is 
measured  by  the  vitality  of  its  households.  "If  the 
foundations  be  destroyed,  what  can  the  righteous  do?  " 
I  take  it  that  these  are  the  most  vital,  the  most  pressing, 
the  most  imperative  questions  of  the  church  of  God  to- 
day. "  I  thank  God,  whom  I  serve  from  my  forefathers 
with  pure  conscience. ' ' 

When  a  man  can,  he  ought  to  thank  God  for  his  fore- 
fathers. For  each  of  us  is  planted  at  birth  within  a  sphere 
of  necessity  created  by  his  descent.  The  infant  is  born 
to-day,  but  he  is  the  creature  of  3'esterday.  A  child  is 
born  into  the  world  with  wings  upon  his  shoulders,  or 
with  gyves  on  his  wrists.  He  is  a  thrall  to  the  conditions 
of  the  household.  He  belongs  to  a  family,  and  the  char- 
acter of  that  family  may  enfranchise  or  fetter  his  whole 
life.  He  did  not  choose  his  parents  ;  they  were  chosen 
without  his  knowledge  or  consent ;  and  yet  he  is  born, 
linked  to  circumstances  that  lift  him  up  as  wings  or  press 
him  down  to  the  lowest  earth.  His  whole  life  is  bound 
up  indissolubly  with    his  parents  and    kindred.     Race, 


THE  DIVINENESS  OF  THE  FAMILY  BOND.  147 

and  language,  and  religion,  and  social  position,  and 
earthly  estate,  and  health,  and  mental  power  are  forced 
upon  him.  He  is  planted  in  a  circle  of  necessity  that  for 
years,  if  not  for  his  whole  life,  may  cause  his  heart  to 
burn  with  gratitude  and  pride  or  crimson  his  cheek  with 
shame. 

Jesus  Christ  was  born  to  poverty  and  to  the  social 
condition  of  a  mechanic,  because  he  was  the  reputed  son 
of  Joseph,  the  carpenter  ;  and  he  was  met  in  the  rising- 
success  of  his  public  ministry  with  a  sneer,  designed  to 
crush  his  influence.  ' '  Is  not  this  the  carpenter's  son?  ' ' 
' '  Can  there  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ? ' ' 
But  there  comes  a  time  when  a  man  and  woman  are 
going  to  weave  the  same  net-work  of  necessity  for 
others.  They  marry,  form  a  new  home,  create  a  new 
household,  in  which  children  are  born  and  nurtured  and 
impressed  for  all  their  lives.  What  is  to  be  the  influence 
of  that  new  circle  upon  the  children  ?  Will  they  grow 
up  to  manhood  and  womanhood  thanking  God  for  their 
forefathers  ?  Will  there  be  recollections  of  a  beautiful 
childhood,  a  pure  youth,  a  faith  and  love  transmitted  as 
an  hereditary  possession,  a  devotion  and  service  of  God 
with  a  pure  conscience,  to  be  renewed  and  to  reappear  in 
their  own  lives,  the  traditions  of  a  godly  household 
bound  up  with  the  record  of  unbroken  service,  to  be 
handed  down  to  the  generations  which  are  to  follow  after  ? 

The  bond  which  creates  and  perpetuates  the  Family  re- 
lation is  the  marriage  bond.  It  is  an  institution  divine 
and  human,  and  its  sanctity  and  inviolableness  are  dis- 
tinctly the  fruit  of  Christianity.  The  idea  popularly 
held  and  often  proclaimed,  that  marriage  is  only  a  civil 
contract,  to  be  kept  or  terminated  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
parties,  like  any  other  contract,  is  untrue  as  well  as  de- 
structive.    Marriage  is  more  than  a  human  contract  or 


148  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTKRIAN  PULPIT. 

convention.  It  is  a  divine  institution.  It  belongs  to 
the  race  from  the  morning  of  creation.  He  created  man 
male  and  female  ;  he  made  one  wife  for  one  man  when 
he  could  have  made  a  hundred.  Says  the  prophet  Mala- 
chi  :  ' '  Did  not  he  make  one  ?  Yet  had  he  the  residue  of 
the  spirit.  And  wherefore  one  ?  That  he  might  seek  a 
godly  seed. ' '  It  is  the  only  human  institution  for  which 
Jesus  Christ  directly  legislated.  He  reaffirmed  its  divine 
origin  and  integrity ;  he  cleared  it  from  the  perversions 
and  glosses  of  his  day  ;  and  he  asserted  its  indissolu- 
bility by  man  except  for  one  reason,  the  one  sin  which 
kills  love  and  makes  the  one  flesh  twain  again.  And 
then,  to  glorify  wedded  life,  he  made  it  the  symbol  of 
unbroken  union  betw^een  himself  and  the  church,  for 
which  he  gave  his  life.  The  noblest  epithalamium  ever 
chanted  by  human  lips  was  sung  by  Paul,  unfolding  this 
divine  mj^stery:  "Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as 
Christ  also  loved  the  church,  and  gave  himself  for  it,  .  .  . 
that  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a  glorious  church,  not 
leaving  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing  ;  but  that  it 
should  be  holy  and  without  blemish.  So  ought  men  to 
love  their  wives  as  their  own  bodies."  And  his  praise 
of  un wedded  life  was  not  for  its  superior  saintliness,  but 
for  its  superior  ease  and  comfort  in  troublous  times,  and 
its  fitness  for  special  service  of  God,  to  which  some  are 
called. 

I  do  not  think  we  always  recognize  the  debt  of  happy 
homes  and  wedded  lives  to  Christianity.  "  The  theory  of 
the  Jews  in  Christ's  day,  however  invaded  by  the  prac- 
tice of  loving  hearts  and  households,  was  that  divorce 
was  practicable  on  almost  an}-  ground  and  for  every 
cause.  Said  the  son  of  Sirach  :  "If  she  go  not  as  thou 
wouldest  have  her,  cut  her  off  from  thy  flesh,  and  give 
her  a  bill  of  divorce,  and  let  her  go." 


THE  DIVINENESS  OF  THE  FAMILY  BOND. 


149 


The  teachings  of  Hillel  allowed  everything  which 
made  the  company  of  a  wife  distasteful  as  sufficient 
ground  for  repudiation.  If  a  woman  had  spoiled  her 
husband's  dinner,  "burned  his  mess"  ;  if  she  found  no 
favor  in  his  sight ;  if  he  liked  another  woman  better ;  if 
a  wife  was  quarrelsome  or  troublesome;  if  she  was  of 
ill-repute  ;  if  she  was  childless  for  ten  years,  she  might 
be  put  away. 

But  Jesus  Christ  drew  the  line  at  one  sin,  a  line  so 
straight  and  rigid  that  even  his  disciples  said,  "If  the 
case  of  a  man  be  so  with  his  wife,  it  is  not  good  to 
marry. ' ' 

In  the  great  Roman  world,  and  in  the  capital  where 
Paul  wrote  the  words  of  our  text,  the  marriage  bond  had 
lost  its  sanctity.  The  Caesar  in  whose  reign  Jesus  Christ 
was  born  divorced  one  wife  after  another,  and  then 
quickly  divorced  the  young  Livia  from  her  husband 
Augustus,  to  whom  she  had  borne  one  child,  and  was 
about  to  bear  another,  and  took  her  to  be  his  own  wife. 
The  domestic  life  of  the  Caesar  in  whose  reign  Paul  was 
writing  was  simply  infamous. 

The  chief  orator  of  the  world  divorced  his  wife,  mar- 
ried another  for  her  dowery,  and  then,  when  he  had  paid 
his  debts  with  that  fortune,  divorced  her.  Another  dis- 
tinguished citizen  married  a  beautiful  girl  and  almost 
immediately  divorced  her,  only  deigning  to  remark, 
"  My  shoes  are  new  and  well-made,  but  no  one  knows 
where  they  pinch  me."  On  the  other  hand,  illustrious 
and  high-born  women  counted  their  years  not  by  the 
consuls,  but  by  the  number  of  their  husbands.  The 
poet  satirist  tells  us  of  a  woman  w^ho  had  eight  husbands 
in  five  years.  Cicero  speaks  of  a  gentleman  who,  com- 
ing home  from  a  journey,  was  told  by  his  wife  that  their 
relations  were  dissolved,  and  that  she  was  going  to  wed 


150  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

Deo  Brutus.  'I'he  earlier  constancy  of  wedded  life  had 
given  place  to  that  laxity  into  which  even  conservative 
states  and  cities  are  drifting. 

The  position  of  the  children  in  these  Roman  homes 
was  that  of  a  slave.  The  law  gave,  and  had  always 
given,  the  father  almost  absolute  power  over  wife  and 
children.  The  sons  were  only  free  when  they  had  been 
sold  three  times.  They  were  then  "emancipated,"  and, 
when  emancipated,  lost  all  claim  upon  the  estate  or  care 
of  the  father.  While  in  the  family  they  were  the  chat- 
tels of  the  father.  He  could  sell,  scourge,  and  slay  his 
sons.  He  could  drag  a  gifted  son  from  the  tribune,  where 
his  eloquence  was  enchaining  the  people,  before  the  con- 
sul, the  tribune,  the  multitude,  to  his  own  house  to  be 
scourged. 

Into  such  domestic  corruption  and  darkness  came  the 
teaching  of  Christ  and  of  Paul.  We  are  all  children  of 
God.  The  marriage  bond  was  created  by  him.  The 
family  is  called  from  the  divine  Father.  "  Children, 
obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord. "  "  Husbands,  love  your 
wives  as  Christ  loved  the  church."  "  Fathers,  provoke 
not  your  children  to  wrath."  They  were  the  rays  of  a 
new  sun.  the  seeds  of  a  new  life  ;  they  regenerated  the 
family  ;  they  saved  Society. 

I  do  not  mean  to  deny  all  domestic  virtue  and  happi- 
ness to  that  old  Pagan  world.  The  inscriptions  on  some 
tombs  thrill  us  with  their  tenderness  and  beauty  :  ' '  She 
was  dearer  to  me  than  my  life. "  *  *  She  never  caused  me 
a  pang  but  by  her  death."  "  To  my  dearest  wife,  with 
whom  I  lived  for  eighteen  years  without  a  complaint. ' ' 
These  were  gracious  flowers  springing  out  of  that  rank 
soil ;  but  their  root  was  simply  in  chance  nature,  not  in 
principle  or  in  duty.  They  knew  not  the  high  note  of 
origin  and  of  destiny  struck  by  the  Christian  prisoner  in 


THE  divinp:ness  of  the  family  bond.         151 

the  dungeon  of  the  Prefecture.  "  God  created  man  male 
and  female."  "What  God  hath  joined  together  let  no 
man  put  asunder."  "The  divine  Father,  from  whom 
every  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is  named." 

It  is  when  the  divineness  of  the  family  bond  is  recog- 
nized and  obeyed,  that  the  mj^sterious  necessity  which 
envelops  us  in  the  dawn  and  nurture  of  our  very  life  is 
lighted  up  and  glorified.  Thers  is  a  moral  inheritance 
which  belongs  to  every  child  as  his  birthright,  whose 
spiritual  issues  are  immeasurable.  There  are  lines  of 
blessing,  threads  of  light  and  love,  strands  of  golden 
hope,  woven  through  and  through  the  texture  of  our 
early  life,  which  appear  in  the  consummate  fabric  of 
noble  character. 

"I  thank  God,  whom  I  serve  from  my  forefathers 
with  a  pure  conscience."  The  purity  of  motive,  the 
devoted  service,  the  radiant  hope,  the  fervent  love,  the 
unconquerable  purpose,  which  made  the  life  of  the  Chris- 
tian Paul  reflect  most  fully  of  all  men  the  example  of 
Christ  himself,  were  the  inheritance  of  Saul  of  Tarsus 
from  God-fearing  ancestors,  all  touched  by  the  grace  of 
God.  He  had  exalted  and  continued  the  traditions  of 
his  house.  And  the  other  home  in  Proconsular  Asia, 
upon  which  he  turns  his  eye  in  the  very  act  of  thanks- 
giving, was  a  signal  witness  of  the  same  fact:  "When 
I  call  to  remembrance  the  unfeigned  faith  that  is  in 
thee,  which  dwelt  first  in  thy  grandmother  Lois,  and 
thy  mother  Eunice;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  in  thee 
also. ' '  The  ancestral  faith  unfeigned — oh  !  how  true  is 
this  faith  that  comes  down  through  the  blood  of  godly 
parents ! — which  flowered  and  fruitened  in  Timothy,  the 
noblest  flower  of  the  apostolic  age,  had  descended  from 
generation  to  generation.  There  is  a  law  of  spiritual 
heredity  running  through  the  line  of  family  descent.      It 


152  SOITHERN    PRESBYTKRIAN    PULl'IT. 

is  recognized  in  the  very  heart  of  the  moral  law,  graven 
in  stone  by  the  finger  of  (rod  himself:  "  I,  the  Lord  thy 
God,  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation 
of  them  that  hate  me,  and  showing  mercy  unto  thousands 
of  them  that  love  me  and  keep  my  commandments." 
It  enters  into  the  very  description  of  God  given  by  him- 
self: "The  Lord,  the  Lord  God  .  .  .  keeping  mercy  for 
thousands ;  .  .  .  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children,  unto  the  third  and  to  the  fourth  generation. ' ' 
It  is  expressed  by  name  in  every  great  covenant  relation 
into  which  he  enters  with  men :  for  life  and  death,  with 
Adam ;  for  succession  of  the  seasons,  with  Noah ;  for 
ecclesiastical  privilege,  with  Abraham ;  for  kingly  posi- 
tion, with  David;  for  a  new  church,  proclaimed  at  Pen- 
tecost and  afterwards.  Grace  does  not  run  in  the  blood, 
and  a  man  is  spiritually  born,  not  of  man,  nor  of  the  wdll 
of  man,  but  of  God.  Yet  the  mental  and  moral  qualities 
which  lie  at  the  basis  of  all  character ;  the  lines  of  thought 
and  feeling  along  which  character  is  built  up ;  the  ten- 
dencies which  are  moulded  by  grace  and  fixed  into 
habits ;  the  sensibilities  and  moral  fibres  which  underlie 
conscientious  service  ;  the  knowledge  of  God  instilled  in 
half-conscious  infancy,  and  the  familiarity  with  Scripture 
terms  which  express  the  faith  and  hope  of  Christian 
men ;  the  atmosphere  of  holy  feeling  and  reverent  move- 
ment which  fills  the  Christian  home,  inhaled  at  every 
breath ;  the  unconscious  moulding  of  an  ever-present 
Christlike  life,  and  the  education  of  mind  and  heart  by 
conscious  and  unconscious  instruments  —  these  are  a 
splendid  portion  of  the  spiritual  inheritance  into  which 
we  are  born,  and  in  the  midst  of  which,  as  in  a  citadel  of 
unworldliness,  character  is  securely  built  up. 

The  nurture  and  discipline  of  the  Lord  in  which  chil- 


THE  DIVINENESS  OF  TPIE  FAMILY  BOND.  I  53 

dren  are  brought  up  is  the  means  of  grace  employed  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  who  works  when  and  as  he  wills,  who 
uses  Christian  nurture,  as  he  uses  Christian  truth,  to 
regenerate  the  soul,  and  decides  by  Christian  influences 
the  destiny  of  the  soul,  as  by  the  conditions  of  the  house- 
hold he  determines  the  worldly  future  of  its  members. 
The  family  life,  therefore,  is  the  spiritual  force  which 
we  cannot  afford  to  overlook,  and  I  take  it  that  one  great 
reason  why  the  church  seems  now  to  be  shorn  so  largely 
of  its  aggressive  power,  is  the  low  vitality  of  Christian 
households. 

It  is  this  conception  of  family  life  and  growth  which 
runs  through  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  the  New. 
What  a  noble  outline  of  the  advancement  and  expansion 
of  the  House  of  God  is  given  in  the  exquisite  prayer  of 
the  old  Psalm  :  ' '  That  our  sons  may  be  as  plants  grown 
up  in  their  youth ;  that  our  daughters  may  be  as  corner- 
stones, polished  after  the  similitude  of  a  palace"  !  The 
imagery  is  as  rich  in  suggestion  as  it  is  in  beauty.  ' '  Our 
sons  as  plants  grown  up  in  their  youth."  The  seed 
planted  in  the  garden  of  the  home,  by  the  living  water, 
springs  up  in  all  native  vigor  and  beauty.  The  child 
rises  into  manhood  as  the  tree  into  the  air,  free,  gracious, 
strong,  full  of  leaves  and  full  of  fruits,  unfading  and 
perennial,  because  it  is  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
roots  go  down  to  living  water.  As  the  gentle  English 
prelate  said:  "If  a  gentleman  is  to  grow  up,  he  must 
grow  like  a  tree :  there  must  be  nothing  between  him 
and  heaven."  The  image  of  the  daughters  is  radiant 
with  beauty,  and  suggests  the  noblest  mission  and  work 
of  woman.  ' '  Our  daughters  as  corner  pillars  sculptured 
to  grace  a  palace."  For  the  woman,  wife  and  mother,  is 
the  corner-stone  which  binds  together  the  family  from 
which  she  springs  and  the  family  to  which  she  comes. 


154  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

uniting  both  by  her  native  beauty  and  exquisite  polish, 
sculptured  and  polished  to  grace  the  palaces  of  man  and 
of  God.  On  her  fidelity  rests  the  family,  society,  the 
church,  which  is  the  house  of  God. 

It  is  through  these  olive  plants  around  the  table ; 
through  these  arrow^s  in  the  hands  of  a  mighty  man,  this 
heritage  and  reward  of  the  Lord,  that  the  Lord  builds 
the  house  of  the  Happy  man  and  of  God.  The  unit  of 
increase  is  the  Household.  The  growth  is  by  multiplica- 
tion. The  law  of  increase  is  unfailing,  and  the  building 
up  is  symmetrical,  continuous,  silent,  glorious.  "The 
Lord  doth  build  up  Jerusalem  ;  he  gathereth  the  out- 
casts of  Israel."  He  doth  restore  the  prodigals  and 
exiles  to  the  Father's  house.  He  brings  the  wanderers 
home  again.  But  the  great  expansion  is  from  within. 
As  then,  as  in  the  days  of  Pentecost,  so  now  the  pro- 
mise is  unto  us  and  to  our  children,  and  as  many  as  the 
Lord  our  God  shall  call.  This  is  the  natural  law  of 
building  the  House,  and  it  ought  to  be  as  certain  as  the 
processes  of  nature.  The  influences  in  the  natural  world 
are  silent  and  gradual,  but  unceasing  and  unfailing. 
The  spiritual  forces  which  the  Lord  employs  in  the  silent 
growth  of  his  kingdom  are  unceasing  and  unfailing,  too. 
The  nurture  of  the  Christian  home  !  who  can  portray  its 
power  ?  The  children  are  born  within  the  house  of  God ; 
the  air  they  breathe  is  charged  with  heavenly  influences  ; 
the  conditions  which  envelop  them  are  the  mould  of 
Christian  thought  and  feeling  ;  the  power  of  holy  exam- 
ple presses  like  the  atmosphere  on  the  whole  surface  of 
their  being  ;  while  the  unique,  transcendant  authority  of 
the  parent,  that  holds  in  its  hand  life  and  death,  name 
and  position,  culture  and  religion,  is  paralleled  by  a  love 
which  is  the  only  measure  of  the  love  of  God.  Oh  !  it  is 
a  sight   that  touches  men   and   angels,   when   a   strong 


THE  DIVINENESS  OF  THE  FAMILY  BOND.  1 55 

Spirit  that  has  tried  to  solve,  unaided,  the  problems  of 
doubt  and  eternal  hope,  wounded,  baffled,  broken,  comes 
back  at  last,  like  a  tired  child,  to  repose  upon  the  bosom 
of  his  father's  peace  and  his  mother's  comfort. 

What,  my  friends,  is  the  dominant  influence  of  your 
homes  ?  ' '  To  impart  a  knowledge  of  the  law  to  a  child 
conferred  as  great  a  spiritual  distinction  as  if  the  man 
had  received  the  law  on  Mount  Horeb, ' '  was  a  saying  of 
old  among  the  Jews,  and  they  added,  that  every  other 
engagement  of  a  man  should  give  place  to  this  pre-emi- 
nent duty.  Is  the  church  and  the  kingdom  of  God  first 
in  the  thoughts  and  speech  of  your  family  circle  ?  Is 
the  teaching,  the  law  of  the  home,  that  its  services  are 
to  be  attended  as  an  act  of  solemn  worship,  its  obliga- 
tions to  take  precedence  of  all  others  ?  Is  there  a  true 
confession  of  Jesus  Christ  before  children,  guests  and 
servants?  The  imperious  prescription  of  the  godless 
social  world  has  done  so  much  to  mutilate  and  destroy 
the  worship  of  the  Sabbath,  barely  yielding  to  the  Lord 
the  time  for  morning  service,  and  stealing  the  afternoon 
and  evening  of  the  Lord's  own  day  for  social  diversion, 
until  even  the  more  obscure  in  a  community  have  de- 
cided it  to  be  their  duty  to  follow  fashion  in  its  war  upon 
worship.  It  ought  to  be  true  of  every  Christian  home, 
"the  church  in  thy  house  " — that  which  is  the  Lord's  in 
thy  house,  or  simply,  "the  Lord's  in  thy  house." 
There  is  a  wealth  of  meaning  in  that  old  EngHsh  word 
CJmrch.  It  comes  to  us  transliterated  through  our 
mother  tongue  from  Paul's  own  word  kuriakon,  "that 
which  belongs  to  the  Lord ' '  ;  and  it  holds  its  place  in 
all  modern  languages,  hardly  changed  in  sound.  When 
we  add,  "in  thy  house,"  the  abode  of  our  dearest  Hfe, 
the  most  sacred  spot  on  earth,  we  have  the  very  core  of 
heaven.      For    what  is    heaven    but   the   church  in  our 


156  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

Father's  House?  The  walls  of  our  little  homes  melt 
away  into  the  immeasurable  expanse  of  the  city  of  God. 
The  family  circle  widens  into  the  household  of  the  divine 
Father,  from  whom  every  family  in  heaven  and  on  earth 
is  named  ! 

There  is  one  sacred  bond  of  the  home  life  which  binds 
the  members  together,  and  all  to  the  throne  of  God,  re- 
laxed and  sometimes  cast  aside  by  Christian  households. 
It  is  the  worship  of  the  Family ;  the  grouping  of  the 
whole  band — father,  mother,  children — around  the  Fam- 
ily Altar  in  united  prayer;  the  pillar  of  cloud,  and  guid- 
ing by  day  ;  the  pillar  of  fire,  lighting  and  guarding  by 
night  those  who  seek  its  sanctuary. 

It  was  not  a  preacher,  it  was  not  a  Christian  man,  who 
wrote  The  Cottar' s  Saturday  Night.  It  was  a  man  who 
drank  himself  to  death  in  the  meridian  of  life.  But  he 
was  one  of  the  poets 'of  the  century,  and  he  wrote  what 
he  had  seen  and  known,  what  had  helped  to  make  him 
intellectually  great.  And  as  he  tells  the  story  of  the 
godly  peasant  home,  the  meal,  the  uncovered  head,  the 
big  Bible,  the  reading  of  the  Old  and  of  the  New,  he 
sings — 

"When  kneeling  down  to  Heaven's  Eternal  King, 

The  saint,  the  father,  and  the  husband  prays ; 
Hope  '  springs  eternal  on  triumphant  wing, ' 

That  thus  they  all  shall  meet  in  future  days; 
There  ever  bask  in  uncreated  rays, 

No  more  to  sigh  or  shed  a  bitter  tear, 
Together  hymning  their  Creator's  praise, 

In  such  society,  yet  still  more  dear, 

While  circling  time  moves  round  in  an  eternal  sphere. 
From  scenes  like  these  old  Scotia's  grandeur  springs, 

That  makes  her  loved  at  home,  revered  abroad ; 
Princes  and  lords  are  but  the  breath  of  kings ; 

An  honest  man's  the  noblest  work  of  God  !  " 


THE  DIVINENESS  OF  THE  FAMiLY  BOND.  I57 

Will  our  children  sing  the  same  note,  our  friends,  our 
households  ?  What  influence  shall  I  exert  on  those  who 
live  with  me,  and  on  those  who  come  after  me?  Shall 
unfeigned  faith  descend  from  father  to  son,  from  mother 
to  daughter,  to  flower  in  some  elect  Timothys,  whose 
lives  shall  witness,  and  whose  speech  shall  confess,  the 
glory  of  divine  grace  and  truth  ?  Oh  !  to  send  down  to 
a  thousand  generations  the  unbroken  traditions  of  a 
Christian  ancestry,  and  the  unbroken  service  of  a  pure 
conscience.  For  this  we  may  well  thank  God  on  earth 
and  in  heaven  too ! 

"I  thank  God,  whom  I  serve  from  my  forefathers," 
cry  many  of  us  to-day  with  grateful  and  exulting  hearts. 

"My  boast  is  not  that  I  deduce  my  birth 
From  loins  enthroned,  the  rulers  of  the  earth ; 
But  higher  far  my  proud  pretensions  rise, 
The  son  of  parents  passed  into  the  skies." 

' '  The  glory  of  children  are  their  fathers. "  ' '  I  was  my 
father's  son,  tender  and  only  beloved  in  the  sight  of  my 
mother."  As  I  speak  to-day,  does  not,  for  some  of  us, 
the  old  home  come  to  life  again,  clear-cut  and  definite, 
every  room  projected  before  our  eyes,  as  if  we  were  once 
more  children,  and  the  shadow  of  the  sun  upon  the  dial 
had  turned  backward  twenty,  forty  degrees  ?  Come  back, 
O  prime  of  my  youth!  Come  back,  O  image  of  my 
father,  strong-hearted  and  gentle,  who  taught  me  also, 
and  said  unto  me,  "Let  thy  heart  retain  my  words: 
The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  knowledge. 
Forsake  not  the  law  of  thy  mother. ' '  Come  back,  sweet- 
faced  and  patient  mother,  on  whose  brow  that  law  gleamed 
as  on  the  mitre  of  the  high-priest,  holiness  to  the  Lord. 
Thank  God !  the  bond  of  the  family  is  not  broken  by 
death.     It  leaps  over  the  grave.     It  abides  for  aye  in  the 


158  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

Celestial  City.  "In  my  Father's  house  are  many  man- 
sions." From  whom  every  family  in  heaven  .... 
is  named ! 

"I  thank  God  that  I  do  not  serve  him  as  my  fore- 
fathers did,"  may,  alas!  be  the  boast  of  some  here 
to-day.  "I  have  outgrown  the  old  faith,  the  old  creed. 
I  break  with  the  traditions  of  the  past.  The  old  Bible, 
the  old  church,  the  old  purity,  are  dead  and  buried. 
I  am  emancipated  from  the  old  superstitions." 

Why  does  one  despise  the  religion  that  is  old?  He 
does  not  reject  the  stores  of  the  past  in  learning,  in 
invention,  in  civilization.  They  are  incorporated  with 
the  riches  of  the  present.  But  some  despise  Chris- 
tianity because  it  was  the  religion  of  their  childhood. 
Because  their  fathers  believed  in  the  whole  Bible,  they 
are  avowed  infidels.  Because  their  mothers  lived  and 
died  and  sang  all  the  way  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  they 
will  abandon  it.  They  cut  loose  from  the  past  heritage, 
and  sever  every  heavenly  cord. 

It  is  possible  to  cut  off  the  spiritual  entail,  to  sell  one's 
birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage ;  but,  oh  !  it  is  a  suicide, 
where  more  than  blood  is  spilt,  for,  once  accomplished, 
this  man  can  find  no  place  of  repentance,  even  though 
he  seek  it  with  tears. 

Do  you  remember  the  story  of  the  Italian  nobleman 
who,  in  his  insane  passion  for  gambling,  had  sacrificed 
nearly  all  of  his  ancestral  possessions  ?  One  night, 
maddened  by  drink,  he  began  to  play  desperately  with  a 
cool  antagonist,  who  had  before  won  a  large  portion  of 
his  wealth.  The  noble  would  win  all  or  lose  all.  He 
staked  his  money,  cattle,  land,  credit,  and  lost  all.  At 
last,  in  wild  despair,  he  staked  his  name,  a  name  which 
had  been  honored  for  centuries  in  his  own  and  other 
lands.     He  lost  that !     Then  the  degradation  and  terror 


THE  DIVINENESS  OF  THE  FAMILY  BOND. 


159 


of  the  man  knew  no  bounds.  He  had  forfeited  his  an- 
cestral name  !  He  fell  upon  his  knees  ;  begged  piteously 
for  its  return— not  for  his  wealth,  or  his  lands,  or  his 
cattle,  only  for  his  name  !  But  the  pitiless  winner  would 
not  yield,  and  the  wretched  bankrupt  rushed  forth  into 
the  darkness  to  disappear  forever,  a  man  without  his 
name.  What  a  fight  the  soul  must  make  to  lose  its 
spiritual  birthright,  of  which  the  Christian  name  is  the 
symbol !  Over  how  many  obstacles  must  the  child  of  a 
godly  house  leap  to  perish  !  How  much  it  sacrifices  to 
be  lost !  How  much  !  Behold  the  shadowy  forms  which 
stand  weeping  around  the  grave  of  a  disinherited  soul, 
disinherited  by  its  own  suicidal  hand  !  The  generations 
of  Christian  forefathers.  Christian  parents.  Christian 
friends  and  kindred,  Christian  faith.  Christian  hope, 
all  surmounted,  all  sacrificed,  for  a  sunless,  Christless 
grave ! 

I  cannot  close  with  this  sad  note.  I  strike  another 
key.  It  is  the  music  of  the  divine  home  ;  of  a  Father's 
house  in  which  is  bread  enough  and  to  spare ;  of  a 
Father's  heart  that  sees  a  great  way  off,  and  is  full,  so 
full,  of  compassion  for  every  wanderer. 

When,  a  few  years  ago,  I  sailed  down  the  upper 
Danube,  the  place  which  stirred  me  most  was  the  castled 
height  of  the  river  where  Richard  the  Lion-hearted  had 
been  entrapped  and  imprisoned  on  his  return  from  the 
Holy  Land.  No  one  in  England  knew  the  place  of  his 
captivity.  But  his  faithful  minstrel,  Blondel,  journeyed 
from  city  to  city,  from  castle  to  castle,  playing  and  sing- 
ing under  stone  walls  the  strains  which  Richard  knew 
and  loved;  and,  lo!  as  he  played  by  this  unknown 
castle,  the  music  stole  into  the  prison  of  the  king.  The 
king  made  sign  of  his  presence,  and,  once  found,  tlie 
ransom  and  deliverance  followed  fast. 


l6o  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

I  play  an  old  melody  to-da3^  I  touch  the  strings 
which  sing  of  home  and  early  faith  ;  of  a  mother's  love, 
of  a  father's  God.  O  friend!  does  not  the  song  find 
thee?  Make  signal  of  thy  captivity.  Come  out  of  thy 
prison.  There  is  a  Friend  without  the  gate.  The  ran- 
som of  a  king  is  in  his  hands.  Exiles  from  God  and 
hope,  or  captives  in  sin,  within  the  stone  walls  of  an  ill- 
spent,  wasted  and  sorrowful  past,  I  say  unto  you,  there 
is  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth  ! 


WHY    BKLIEVERS    SHOULD     'NOT 
FEAR. 

W.  PITZER,  D    !)  , 
Pastor  ofCejitru/  .  /  ^.nylcrian  Churth,    Washington,  D.  C. 


"Fear  not,  I  am  tlT  '!*>.(  au'-'^ die, last :  i  am  lie  that  iis'-eth  aud 
was  dead :  and,  behoM.  1  am  alive  for  evermore,  Amen  :  and 
have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  deatl  i 

THK  Am>stle  John  was  a  piivsoiicr  :;ii  the  island  of 
Patmos  for  the   sake  of  the  gospel   when  he  re- 
ceived this  woudrous  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  to 
the  churelies.     His  a>inf>aiiions  in  the  a]X)sto]ate  h 
passed  away,  and  in  a  little  while  he,  too,  must  go  li 
From  the  rockj'  crags  <:  f  Patmos,  he  tx)uld  look  across 
the  beautiful  waters  »)*'  ihe  ^-Egean,  and  see  thQ  coast  line 
of  Asia  Minor,  and  abrj'  .si  to  the  sites  of  churches  planted 
by  apostolic  hands.      I ')r  him,  the  outlook  was  dark  and 
dreary,  and  doubtless  this  last  of  the  apostles  had  h- 
seasons  of  fear  and  despondency. 

He  was  in  the  spirit  on  the   Lord's  day,' and  in  th 
midst  of  the  sevet^.  -golden  candlesticks  he  saw  one  walk- 
ing like  unto  tht    -on  of  man.     He  was  clothed  in  full 
priestly  garment :,  and  his  countenance  was  as  the  sun 
shineth  in  iii  th.     The  vision  was  so  majestic,  so 

overpowerin.  John  fell  at  his  feet  as  dead;  then 

the  glorified  Redeemer  laid  his  right  hand  on  his  servant, 
an."!      *  '  -  him,  "Fear  not."     And  through  John  he 

'iMs  rery  believer,  and  .says  to  us  to-day,  "Feu; 


i(j] 


l62  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

Years  before,  this  august  being  had  appeared  in  visi- 
ble bodily  presence,  and  with  audible  voice  had  spoken 
to  Saul  of  Tarsus,  and  had  chosen  him  to  be  a  witness 
tinto  all  men  of  what  he  saw  and  heard.  Now  once 
more  he  appears  to  the  beloved  disciple,  who  leaned 
upon  his  breast,  and  delivers  a  message,  not  only  to 
him,  but,  through  him,  to  all  believers  until  the  end  of 
the  age,  when  he  shall  return  in  glory  from  the  skies. 
**Fear  not,"  he  says  to  John;  "Fear  not,"  he  says  to 
us. 

Finite,  incomplete,  and  dying,  with  eternity  before  us 
in  such  a  world  as  this,  we  cannot  pass  through  life 
without  many  fears. 

One  person  has  an  intense  dread  of  physical  pain ,  he 
shrinks  with  horror  from  the  mere  thought  of  being  laid 
upon  a  bed  of  sickness  to  be  racked,  week  after  week, 
with  pain.  Another  is  haunted  with  apprehensions  of 
poverty ;  he  fears  that  he  will  lose  his  place,  his  ofl&ce, 
his  occupation ;  that  his  income  will  be  cut  off;  that  he 
will  be  left,  in  his  old  age,  helpless  and  penniless. 
Another  is  constantly  looking  forward  with  the  most 
dismal  forebodings  to  the  hour  of  death.  How  shall  he 
meet  that  dreadful  enemy?  How  shall  he  pass  safely 
through  the  gloom  of  the  grave?  or  else,  he  is  thinking 
of  the  dread  issues  of  the  invisible  realm,  and  the  awful 
realities  that  lie  beyond  the  vail. 

Let  the  weak,  fearful,  desponding  child  of  God  take 
courage  ;  to  every  dread  and  anxiety  and  apprehension 
there  comes  to  him  from  his  Lord  and  Master,  from  his 
Friend  and  Brother,  from  him  who  has  encountered 
every  enemy,  who  has  endured  every  possible  human 
agony,  and  who  has  come  off  conqueror  and  more  than 
conqueror  over  them  all,  **  Fear  not :  I  am  the  first  and 
the  last:   I  am  he  that  liveth  and  was  dead :   and  behold, 


WHY  BELIEVERS  SHOULD   "NOT  FEAR."  163 

I  am  alive  forevermore,  Amen,  and  have  the  keys  of 
hell  and  death. 

In  every  congregation  there  are  some  weak  and  wearied 
ones,  some  tried  and  tempted  ones,  some  heavy-laden, 
burdened  ones,  some  doubting,  desponding  ones.  To 
all  such  the  Lord  himself  sends  a  word  of  cheer  and 
comfort;  and  then  he  gives  the  reasons,  and  they  are  all 
found  within  himself,  why  believers  should  ' '  fear  not. ' ' 
Let  us  state  and  analyze  the  four  reasons  given  by  our 
Kingly  Priest  why  his  people  should  be  of  good  courage: 

I.  **/  am  He  that  Liveth'';  or,  I  am  the  Living  Oyie. 
These  words  do  not  simply  mean  that  he  who  spake  to 
John  was  at  that  time  a  living  person,  for  this  he  must 
have  been  to  be  able  to  speak  at  all.  They  mean  infi- 
nitely more  than  this  :  it  is  a  claim  made  by  this  august 
person  to  the  possession  of  an  underived,  an  indepen- 
dent, and  an  eternal  life. 

Of  all  the  mysteries  in  the  universe,  nothing  is  more 
inscrutable  and  mysterious  than  life.  What  it  is,  who 
knows?  or,  who  can  tell?  Of  its  essence  we  know  abso- 
lutely nothing.  Life  in  the  flower  that  to-day  is  and  to- 
morrow dies ;  life  in  the  animal,  the  man,  the  angel. 
We  know  something  of  the  manifestations ;  nothing 
whatever  of  the  essence.  Attempt  to  grasp,  to  hold,  to 
analyze  it,  it  eludes  you  and  disappears. 

Science  tells  us  that  all  life  comes  from  life,  '' omne 
virum,  ex  vivo.''  There  is  no  such  thing  known  in  the 
domain  of  science  as  spontaneous  generation.  Out  of 
the  dead  there  never  has  come  life.  All  life,  therefore, 
that  we  see  and  know  in  this  sphere  must  come  from 
preexisting  life  in  some  higher  realm  and  sphere  of  ex- 
istence. Our  lives  are  finite  and  dependent ;  there  must 
therefore  be  some  fountain  of  life,  uncreated  and  inde- 
pendent, out  of  which  all  streams  of  life  do  flow. 


164  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

In  this  Scripture,  as  elsewhere  in  the  Word,  Jesus  Christ 
asserts  his  preexistence  and  his  eternity,  "  I  am  the  first 
and  the  last  and  the  living  one .  Before  Abraham  was ,  I  am . 
Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my  day  :  he  saw  and  was  glad. 
In  the  beginning  was  the  word,  and  the  word  was  with 
God,  and  the  word  was  God.  All  things  were  made  by 
him,  and  without  him  was  not  anything  made  that  was 
made."  In  him  was  life,  and  here  we  reach  the  infinite 
and  eternal  fountain  of  all  finite  and  dependent  life. 

The  names,  titles,  attributes,  and  works  that  are  pro- 
per to  God,  and  that  are  ascribed  to  God,  are  also  given 
to  Jesus  Christ ;  if  the  Scriptures  of  both  Testaments  do 
not  clearly  teach  his  supreme  Godhead,  then  language  is 
incapable  of  expressing  that  thought.  He  is  the  origin 
and  end  of  all  things ;  the  creator  and  upholder  of  all 
beings  and  all  worlds  ;  the  life  and  the  light  of  men  ;  the 
resurrection  and  the  life  :  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega ;  the 
first  and  the  last;  the  prince  of  life,  who  is,  and  who 
was,  and  who  is  to  come. 

This  glorious  being,  with  knowledge  that  is  omni- 
scient, with  power  that  is  omnipotent,  holding  all  forces, 
all  agencies,  all  beings,  and  all  worlds  in  his  hand,  says 
to  every  timid,  frightened,  weary  and  heavy-laden  child 
of  God,  *'  Fear  not,  I  am  your  friend,  your  brother,  and 
all  the  exhaustless  treasures  of  heaven  and  the  Godhead 
are  pledged  for  your  safety  ;  I  will  make  all  things  work, 
I  will  make  them  work  together,  in  harmony,  in  co- 
operation, for  your  good."  Surely  if  God  be  for  us,  we 
should  not  fear  anything  that  may  be  against  us. 

II.  And  was  Dead^  or  became  Dead. — This  is  the 
second  reason  why  the  believer  should  not  fear.  It  is 
not  merely  that  his  Saviour  is  divine,  and  therefore  able 
to  keep  him  from  falling,  and  to  present  him  faultless 
before  the  throne;    but  this    power  of   almightiness  is 


WHY  BELIEVERS  SHOULD   "  NOT  FEAR."  165 

directed  by  inextinguishable  love,  a  love  higher  than  the 
heights,  deeper  than  the  depths,  that  even  death  could 
not  chill  nor  destroy.  It  is  as  if  the  Son  of  man  said  to 
John  and  to  us,  I,  who  am  divine,  who  have  all  power, 
have  loved  you  unto  death,  in  death,  and  through  death. 
I  became  dead  for  you,  because  I  loved  you. 

The  Godhead  of  the  Son  could  not  die,  and  so  the 
word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us.  Godhead 
united  to  itself  a  true  body  and  a  reasonable  soul,  and 
in  the  God  man  Christ  Jesus,  this  human  soul  and  body 
could  be  separated  one  from  the  other,  and  this  was  done, 
and  this  was  death,  and  thus  the  living  one  became 
dead.  He  said  I  have  power  to  lay  down  my  life  and  I 
have  power  to  take  it  up  again.  It  was  because  he 
was  God  that  he  could  ofier  up  himself,  lay  down  his 
life  and  take  it  up  again;  because  he  was  man,  he  could 
die. 

Did  this  most  remarkable  person,  this  living  one 
really  become  dead?  This  is  a  question  of  fact,  and 
must  be  decided  by  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses. 

The  witnesses  say,  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  or  literally 
he  breathed  out  his  soul.  Father,  into  thy  hands  I 
commend  my  spirit.  As  God,  he  separated  his  human 
soul  from  its  body,  and  sent  it  to  his  Father  God. 

When  the  soldiers  came  to  hasten  the  death  of  the 
three  condemned  men,  who  hung  upon  the  cross,  they 
found  Jesus  already  dead,  at  which  they  marvelled,  and 
did  not  break  his  bones.  When  one  of  the  soldiers 
thrust  his  spear  into  his  side,  near  the  heart,  then  came 
out  not  blood  only,  but  water  and  blood.  His  body  was 
taken  down  from  the  cross  by  his  friends,  who  prepared 
it  for  burial,  which  they  would  never  have  done,  had 
not  Hfe  been  extinct.  The  whole  New  Testament 
record   affords    the  most  conclusive   evidence   that   the 


l66  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

Christ  of  gospel  history  did  indeed  become  dead.  He 
that  liveth  was  dead. 

But  why  should  this  death  rather  than  any  other  death 
afford  grounds  for  courage  and  comfort?  Why  should 
the  death  of  a  powerful  friend  be  given  as  the  reason 
why  the  believer  should  fear  not?  Ordinarily,  we  feel 
far  more  secure  in  the  presence  of  a  living  than  a  dead 
friend.  The  live  man  can  help,  comfort  and  sympathize 
with  us.  The  dead  man  can  do  us  no  good  whatever; 
a  living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  lion. 

It  would  have  sounded  strangely  to  the  ears  of  Israel 
if  it  had  been  said  to  them,  "Moses  is  dead;  fear  not." 
How  bewildering  to  the  seven  thousand  in  Israel  who 
had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal  had  Elisha  said,  '  *  Elijah 
is  dead ;  fear  not. ' '  How  incomprehensible  to  the  Cor- 
inthians had  Titus  said,  "Paul  is  dead;  fear  not." 
What  encouragement  to  the  Hollanders  to  announce  to 
them  the  death  of  their  beloved  William;  or,  to  the 
French  the  death  of  the  great  Napolean;  or  to  Ameri- 
cans the  death  of  lincoln ;  or  to  Confederates  the  death 
of  Jackson  ?  These  words,  as  applied  to  any  other  person 
than  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  would  be  filled  with  bitter 
mocker3^  Not  so  when  he  uses  them  as  a  ground  of 
comfort  to  his  disciples. 

I  died  for  you  ;  I  took  your  place  ;  I  bore  your  sins  in 
my  own  body  on  the  tree ;  I  paid  the  price ;  I  endured 
the  penalty ;  I  magnified  the  law ;  I  obtained  redemp- 
tion. The  accursed  cross,  the  sacrificial  death,  the  aton- 
ing blood — these  give  peace,  and  comfort,  and  courage, 
and  strength  to  the  soul  of  the  believer.  To  every  whis- 
per of  Satan's  malignity,  to  every  thunder  of  the  law,  to 
every  alarm  of  conscience,  to  every  foreboding  of  the 
future,  to  every  apprehension  of  the  judgment,  to  every 
fear  of  hades,  the  Lord  Jesus  lays  his  pierced  hand  on 


WHY  BELIEVERS  SHOULD   "NOT  FEAR."  167 

the  believer  and  says,  "  Fear  not;  I  am  the  first  and  the 
last  and  the  living  one,  and  I  became  dead  for  you — died 
that  you  might  live. ' ' 

III.  "And  Behold^  I  am  A  live  Foreverniore .' ' — This 
presents  a  third  reason  for  the  believer's  confidence. 
This  Son  of  man  who  speaks  to  him,  not  only  became 
dead,  but  he  passed  through  the  gates  of  the  grave  with 
the  tread  of  a  conqueror ;  he  went  down  into  the  regions 
of  the  dead,  and  bound  the  strong  man  armed,  who  had 
the  power  of  death  and  who  kept  his  goods.  He  spoiled 
the  principalities  and  power  of  darkness,  and  came  forth 
from  the  realms  of  the  dead  clad  in  the  radiant  glories  of 
the  resurrection  life. 

His  Godhead  wrought  in  the  grave  and  lifted  his  mor- 
tal body  up  into  immortality  and  brought  back  his  sinless 
human  soul  from  his  Father's  bosom  to  reinhabit  his 
glorified  human  body,  and  thus  he  became  the  first-fruits 
of  all  them  that  slept.  "  And  now,  Christ  being  raised 
from  the  dead,  dieth  no  more ;  death  hath  no  more  do- 
minion over  him."  The  person  who  speaks  to  John  is 
not  merely  the  Living  One,  the  first  and  the  last,  not 
merely  the  Son  of  Mary,  but  the  glorified  Son  of  man, 
with  his  now  exalted  humanity  united  eternally  to  his 
Godhead.  He  can,  indeed,  sing,  "Oh,  death,  where  is 
thy  sting?  Oh,  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?"  for  his 
corruptible  has  put  on  incorruption,  and  his  mortal  has 
put  on  immortality.  After  death  has  reigned  with  re- 
sistless power  over  the  race  for  four  thousand  years, 
his  conqueror  has  at  last  been  found — the  great  victor 
has  at  last  appeared.  Man  is,  indeed,  redeemed,  and 
the  resurrection  is  no  longer  a  hope,  but  a  fact  and  a 
reality. 

Alive  again,  and  alive  forevermore.  The  dead  who 
had  been  brought  back  to  a  mortal  life  in  the  flesh  were 


i68  southp:rn  Presbyterian  pulpit. 

not  alive  forevermore,  for  they  had  not  experienced  the 
transforming  power  of  the  resurrection.  The  daughter 
of  Jairus,  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain,  and  Lazarus, 
died  again  ;  they  were  not  made  alive  forevermore.  But 
here  is  one  who  can  never  die  again,  because  he  has  con- 
quered death,  and,  therefore,  over  him  death  hath  no 
power. 

The  hand  laid  with  such  regal  majesty  and  yet  with 
such  infinite  tenderness  on  the  believer,  is  one  that  bears 
the  print  of  the  nails — a  hand  that  was  nailed  to  the 
cross,  but  it  is  also  a  hand  that  burst  the  bonds  of  death, 
and  is  now  clothed  with  all  power  in  heaven  and  on 
earth.  Surely,  we  need  not  fear  when  guided  and  de- 
fended by  him,  who  not  only  died,  but  who  is  alive  for- 
evermore. 

IV.  "  And  have  the  Keys  of  Hell  and  Death, ' '  or,  as  in 
the  latest  revision,  ' '  the  Keys  of  Death  and  Hell. ' ' — This 
is  the  fourth  reason  given  why  the  believer  should  ' '  not 
fear." 

The  key  is  the  symbol  of  ownership,  of  possession,  of 
legal  power  and  authority.  Ordinarily,  the  person  who 
has  the  key  of  a  house  is  the  owner  of  the  house — has 
rightful  possession  and  authority  in  it  and  over  it.  He 
can  open  and  shut  the  doors,  go  in  and  out  as  he  pleases, 
admit  or  exclude  persons  according  to  his  own  good 
pleasure.  When  a  contractor  builds  a  house  and  his 
work  is  completed  according  to  the  agreement,  he  de- 
livers the  keys  to  the  lawful  owner.  The  key  is  evi- 
dence of  ownership.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  risen 
and  glorified  Son  of  man,  has  the  keys  of  death  and  the 
grave.  He  is  the  rightful  owner  of  the  whole  invisible 
world,  because  he  humbled  himself  and  became  obedient 
unto  death.  God  hath  highly  exalted  him  and  given 
him  a  name  above  every  name,  and  invested  him  with 


WHY  BELIEVERS  SHOULD   "NOT  FEAR."  169 

power  and  authority  over  all  worlds  visible  and  invisi- 
ble. Why  should  the  believer  fear  when  his  Lord  and 
Saviour  has  supreme  authority  over  death  and  all  realms 
of  the  unseen  world  ? 

There  are  two  objects  of  fear  to  almost  every  human 
being ;  there  is  the  dread  of  death  and  the  dread  of  the 
issues  that  await  us  after  death.  Let  us  look  at  these  in 
the  order  of  nature  or  in  the  order  of  the  Canterbury 
version.  Death  first,  then  hades,  the  world  of  the  dead. 
Death  is  emphatically  the  king  of  terrors  ;  there  is  some- 
thing fearful  and  repulsive  in  death.  He  always  comes 
with  a  sting,  and  is  seldom,  if  ever,  a  welcome  visitor. 
Men  may  deny  the  fact  of  sin ;  they  cannot  deny  the  fact 
of  death ;  and  yet  God  always  connects  the  two.  Men 
die  because  they  are  sinners.  Sin  is  the  cause  of  death. 
That  which  invests  death  with  such  appalling  horror  is 
sin  ;  the  sting  of  death  is  sin. 

To  leave  this  world  forever,  to  look  no  more  upon  the 
glad  sunlight  that  fills  and  floods  the  heavens  and  the 
earth ;  to  see  no  more  the  sky  bending  in  beauty  over 
us ;  to  hear  no  more  the  song  of  birds,  the  murmur  of  the 
sea,  the  happy  voices  of  childhood ;  to  leave  these  homes 
of  ours  forever  and  forever ;  to  say  farewell  to  the  loved 
ones  of  earth  ;  to  leave  these  bodies  of  ours,  these  taber- 
nacles of  our  souls,  in  the  cold  and  silent  grave.  This, 
this  is  death.  Can  we  say  less  than  that  it  is  an  enemy, 
and  the  sum  and  culmination  of  all  earthly  ills?  The 
grave  is  chilly,  cold,  cheerless,  damp,  dark,  dismal,  and 
yet  it  is  the  home  for  these  bodies  of  ours.  What  mil- 
lions and  tens  of  millions  have  gone  down  into  its  silent 
embrace !  The  mighty  kings  and  warriors  of  old  who 
filled  the  world  with  teiTor  and  alarm ;  statesmen  who 
led  their  people  in  paths  of  greatness  and  renown ;  poets 
who  sang  so  sweetly  that  all  men  rose  up  to  call  them 


lyO  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

blessed.  These,  with  the  unknown  and  unnumbered 
multitudes,  the  old  and  the  young,  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
the  noble  and  the  base,  all,  all  have  passed  away  into  the 
grave  and  to  the  pale  realm  of  shades.  The  vast  proces- 
sion, that  started  in  Eden  with  the  death  of  Abel,  has 
moved  on  without  a  halt  or  a  break,  silently  and  sadly, 
to  the  tomb.  It  is  moving  to-day,  and  at  each  tick  of 
thy  watch  one  soul  passes  into  the  unseen. 

It  is  vain  to  say  that  we  do  not  fear  death.  Some  say 
they  do  not,  and,  perhaps,  they  may  not,  but  surely 
such  a  dreadful  event  in  human  existence  should  not  be 
lightly  esteemed,  and  should  produce  in  all  thoughtful 
minds  salutary  dread.  But  the  Christian  need  not  fear 
to  die !  There  is  one  who  is  his  friend,  who  has  over- 
come death  and  who  holds  the  keys  of  the  grave  and  the 
unseen  world,  and  who  says  to  him  :  "Fear  not." 

The  gates  of  death  cannot  open  for  you  one  moment 
before  the  appointed  time,  and  he,  who  has  the  keys  and 
opens  the  doors,  will  go  with  you  into  the  darkness  and 
conduct  you  safely  into  the  light  and  glory  on  the  other 
side. 

It  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  and  after  death 
the  judgment.  It  is  not  death,  only,  that  men  fear,  but 
what  is  beyond — hades,  that  vast  and  eternal  world 
into  which  all  shall  enter,  where  each  one  shall  dwell 
forever. 

Hades  with  its  unearthly  inhabitants,  its  disembodied 
spirits,  its  angels  and  demons,  and  spirits  of  the  just 
made  perfect,  its  eternal  retribution,  its  worm  that  never 
dies,  its  fire  that  is  never  quenched,  its  ceaseless  tor- 
ments, its  accusing  conscience,  its  hopeless  and  helpless 
despair.     Who  will  befriend  us  there  ? 

To  every  alarm  of  the  believing  soul  there  comes  the 
re-assuring   word,    "  Fear  not,   I   have   the  keys  of  all 


WHY  believer's  SHOULD   "NOT  FKAR."  171 

the  doors  of  this  vast  and  unseen  world. ' '  His  feet  as 
burnished  brass  tread  down  his  and  our  enemies,  his 
voice  as  the  sound  of  many  waters  compels  the  obedi- 
ence of  the  unearthly  inhabitants  of  that  infinite  realm, 
and  from  the  glory  of  his  countenance,  shining  as  the 
sun  in  his  strength,  none  can  escape. 

Angels,  principalities  and  powers  are  subject  to  him, 
and  he  is  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  and  this 
glorious  person  is  our  steadfast  and  unfaiUng  friend.  He 
loves  us  with  an  intense,  a  divine,  a  personal  love,  and 
with  his  almighty  hand  laid  upon  each  believer,  he  says, 
'  *  Fear  not. ' '  My  Christian  brother,  this  is  the  message 
sent  you,  nay  brought  to  you,  by  your  Lord  himself. 
Why  should  you  fear,  when  all  things  are  yours,  whether 
Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or 
death,  or  things  present,  or  things  to  come ;  all  are 
yours,  and  ye  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's.  You 
may  have  come  this  day  to  your  Father's  house,  weary 
and  heavy  laden,  pressed  down  with  many  anxieties, 
and  doubts  and  fears.  Listen,  I  beseech  you,  to  this 
voice  from  Patmos,  "Fear  not;  I  am  the  first  and  the 
last:  I  am  he  that  liveth,  and  was  dead;  and  behold,  I 
am  alive  for  evermore.  Amen  ;  and  have  the  keys  of  hell 
and  of  death. ' ' 

Perhaps  you  can  sing  with  Mrs.  M.  C.  Edwards  her 
little  hymn,  entitled  "God  Cares  for  Me  :  " 

"  I  sat  in  the  door  of  eventide, 

My  heart  was  full  of  fears, 
And  I  saw  the  landscape  before  me  lie, 

Through  the  mist  of  the  burning  tears. 
I  thought  to  myself  the  world  is  dark, 

No  light,  nor  joy  I  see. 
Nothing  but  toil  and  want  is  mine. 

And  no  one  cares  for  me. 


172  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULriT. 

' '  A  sparrow  was  twittering  at  my  feet, 

With  its  beautiful,  auburn  head, 
And  it  looked  at  me  with  dark  mild  eyes, 

As  it  picked  up  crumbs  of  bread : 
And  said  to  me  in  words  as  plain 

As  the  words  of  a  bird  could  be, 
'  I  am  only  a  sparrow,  a  worthless  bird, 

But  the  dear  Lord  cares  for  me.' 

*'  A  lily  was  growing  beside  the  hedge 

Beautiful,  tall,  and  white. 
And  it  shone  through  the  glossy  leaves  of  green 

Like  an  angel  clothed  in  light ; 
And  it  said  to  me,  as  it  waved  its  head 

On  the  breezes  soft  and  free, 
'  I  am  only  a  lily,  a  useless  flower, 

But  the  Master  cares  for  me.  * 

"  Then  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  hand  of  the  loving  Lord, 

Over  my  head  was  laid. 
And  he  said  to  me,  '  Oh  !  faithless  child. 

Wherefore  art  thou  dismayed? 
I  clothe  the  lilies,  I  feed  the  birds, 

I  see  the  sparrow's  fall. 
Nothing  escapes  my  watchful  eye, 

My  kindness  is  over  all.'  " 


THE  RULER'S  QUESTION. 

BY   REV.  J.   H.   BRYSON.  D.   D., 
Pastor  of  the  Presbytermn  Church,  Huntsville,  Ala. 


I 


'  Good  Master,  what  good  thing  shall  I  do,  that  I  may  have 
eternal  life  ? " — Matt,  xix.  16. 

THE  interesting  incident,  tu  .miu^;:  uic  \\k)i<i>  *>:  uk; 
text  refer,  is  given  by  three  of  the  evangelists. 
This  short  discourse  with  the  young  Jewish  ruler 
evidenily  made  a  very  profound  impression  upon  the 
minds  of  the  disciples.  They  were  made  to  see  the 
spirituality  of  the  divine  law,  and  the  severity  of  its 
demands,  in  a  light  which  thej^  had  never  contemplated. 
Their  eyes  were  opened  to  the  fact,  that  the  law  required 
something  more  than  a  mere  external  conformity  to  its 
precepts,  that  its  claims  embraced  the  inward  afifections 
of  the  heart,  and  that  no  obedience  could  be  perfect  which 
did  not  originate  and  rest  upon  the  principle  of  love. 
The  divine  Master  takes- this  occasion  to  expound  the 
true  nature  of  the  law  of  God,  and  show  the  broad  sweep 
of  its  demands  ;  and  he  does  so  in  a  way  that  the  im- 
portant truth  cannot  possibly  be  misapprehended.  The 
exposition,  which  he  gives,  is  a  startling  disclosure  both 
to  the  young  ruler  and  to  the  disciples.  They  see,  per- 
haps Tor  the  first  time,  that  all  acceptable  obedience  must 
be  founded  in  love,  and  that  love  to  God  is  the  chief  and 
great  requirement  of  the  law.  The  painful  discovery  is 
made,  that  human  actions  may  conform  to  the  letter  of 
the  law,  and  yet  be  devoid  of  the  very  element  which 
gives  them  merit. 

173 


174  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

The  doctrines  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  in  this  interesting 
interview  with  the  young  Jewish  ruler  are  of  general 
application ;  we  are  all  alike  concerned  in  the  principles 
brought  to  light  in  this  discourse.  "  What  must  I  do 
to  inlierit  eter^iallifef  is  a  question  which  has  claims 
upon  us,  which  we  do  well  to  consider.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  know  what  is  the  true  solution  of 
this  problem.  How  is  eternal  life  to  be  obtained?  By 
what  process  is  the  inestimable  boon  to  be  secured? 
Where  is  it  to  be  found?  By  what  pathway  is  it  to  be 
reached?  What  course  of  conduct  must  be  adopted, 
that  will  ultimate  in  its  possession  ?  Such  inquiries 
justly  deserve  the  most  serious  attention.  No  blessing 
can  be  compared  to  that  of  eternal  life.  Before  it  all 
else  sinks  into  insignificance.  It  is  the  one  matter  of 
chief  concern  which  should  put  every  other  question  in 
the  background.  We  can  place  before  ourselves  no 
more  serious  inquiry  than  that  contained  in  the  words 
of  the  text :  ' '  Good  Master,  what  good  thing  sJiall  I  do, 
that  I  may  have  eternal  life  ?  ' ' 

Our  discourse  upon  these  words  will  be  divided  into 
three  parts — 

I.  TJie  facts  of  this  iyiteresting  incident. 

II.  The  solutioji  which  the  Master  gives. 

III.  The  result  of  this  i^iterview. 
Notwithstanding  the  general  prejudice  against  Jesus 

Christ,  we  find  a  number  of  intelligent  Jews  came  to 
inquire  of  him  concerning  the  doctrines  he  taught  and 
take  counsel  of  him  as  a  wise  teacher  in  spiritual  things. 
We  have  two  cases  presented  by  the  different  evangelists 
of  particular  interest ;  the  one  was  that  of  Nicodemus,  a 
distinguished  rabbi,  who  came  to  Jesus  by  night  at  the 
beginning  of  his  public  ministry ;  the  other,  that  of  a 
wealthy  young  ruler,  who  came  to  Jesus  at  the  close  of 


THE  ruler's  question.  175 

his  labors  in  Perea.  The  two  rulers  seemed  to  be  alike 
desirous  of  being  instructed  by  Jesus  Christ.  Both 
wanted  more  light,  and  were  honestly  and  earnestly  seek- 
ing after  truth.  The  two  cases  gave  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity to  the  blessed  Master  to  bring  to  light  very  important 
doctrines.  Nicodemus  opened  the  way  to  announce  the 
profound  doctrine  of  regeneration  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  that  it  was  a  fundamental  change  wrought 
upon  man's  moral  nature,  and  that  it  was  an  indispensa- 
ble requisite  to  admission  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
young  ruler,  in  his  inquiry  as  to  what  he  must  do  to 
inherit  eternal  life,  gave  a  most  suitable  opportunity  to 
exhibit  the  spirituality  of  the  divine  law,  that  its  claims 
extended  to  the  motive  which  prompted  the  act,  as  well 
as  to  the  act  itself. 

The  case  of  this  young  man,  who  came  running  to  the 
Master,  and  earnestly  inquired,  ''  What  good  tJmig  he 
must  do  to  have  eternal  life^ ' '  is  one  which  deserves  our 
most  careful  study.  Human  actions,  performed  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances,  are  here  brought  to 
the  severe  test  of  a  perfect  law ;  an  infallible  judge  pre- 
sides, and  there  can  be  no  possible  mistake  in  the  con- 
clusion. 

The  incident  referred  to  in  the  text  occurred  near  the 
close  of  the  public  ministry  of  Jesus  Christ  as  he  was 
passing  through  Perea  and  approaching  Jerusalem  for 
the  last  time.  This  young  man  who  came  to  the  Master 
to  inquire  what  he  must  do  to  inherit  eternal  life,  was  of 
high  standing  among  his  people  ;  he  was  a  ruler,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  chief  council  of  the  nation.  He  had  great 
wealth,  and  was  distinguished  for  his  intellectual  and 
social  culture.  "Better  than  this,  he  was  both  amiable 
and  was  virtuous;  he  had  made  it,  from  the  first,  an 
object  of  worthy  ambition  to  be  just,  and  to  be  generous, 


176  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

and  use  the  advantages  of  his  position  to  win,  in  a  right 
way,  the  favor  of  his  fellow-men.  But  notwithstanding 
he  was  successful  in  all  the  aims  of  his  past  life,  there 
was  a  restlessness,  a  dissatisfaction  at  heart,  a  deep 
consciousness  that  he  had  not  yet  obtained  that  for  which 
his  better  nature  was  longing."  He  had  heard  Jesus 
speak  of  eternal  life,  something  evidently  far  higher  than 
anything  he  had  yet  attained,  and  he  wondered  how 
it  might  be  secured.  To  his  mind,  there  appeared  but 
one  possible  wa}^  to  secure  this  great  blessing,  and  that 
was  to  do  some  work  of  extraordinary  merit  ;  and  so 
he  comes  to  Jesus  with  the  pointed  inquiry,  ''Good 
Master,  what  good  thing  shall  I  do  that  I  may  have  eternal 
lifef' 

Jesus  knew  the  prevailing  thought  in  this  young 
man's  mind,  that  eternal  life  was  to  be  merited  by  some 
extraordinary  work  which  might  be  performed ;  that  he 
regarded  it  as  the  reward  of  some  higher  virtue  which  he 
might  yet  attain.  The  very  form  of  the  question  shows 
that  the  young  man  was  fully  possessed  of  this  idea,  that 
the  title  to  eternal  life  could  be  secured  by  his  own  effort. 
He  wanted  this  great  blessing,  and  if  he  only  knew 
what  would  secure  it  he  was,  as  he  supposed,  ready  and 
willing  to  do  it.  The  disciples  and  the  multitude  gath- 
ered around,  were  anxiously  waiting  to  hear  what  an- 
swer Jesus  would  give  to  the  question  which  the  young 
ruler  had  so  earnestly  asked.  Perhaps,  to  their  surprise, 
he  said,  "  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  comma7id- 
ments,''  and  the  young  man  immediately  responded. 
Which  ?  not  conscious  that  any  of  the  commandments  of 
which  he  had  any  knowledge  had  been  neglected.  Jesus 
then  said,  **  Thou  shall  do  no  -murder.  Thozc  shall  not 
commit  adulte?y.  Thou  sJialt  7iot  steal.  Thou  slialt  not 
bear  false  witness.     Ho7ior  thy  father  a7id  thy  motJier ;  and 


THE  ruler's  question.  I77 

thou  shall  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy  self. ' '  The  young  man 
listened  to  the  Master  as  he  detailed  the  various  precepts 
which  the  law  enjoins,  and  promptly,  without  the  slight- 
est misgiving,  he  answered,  ' '  All  these  have  I  observed 
from  my  youth.  What  lack  I  yet?"  He  was  perfectly 
honest  and  sincere  in  making  this  reply.  He  was  satis- 
fied that  his  obedience  to  these  commandments  during 
his  past  life  was  everything  it  should  be.  To  his  fellow- 
men  and  to  himself  there  would  seem  to  be  no  defect  in 
his  character ;  he  was  honest  and  upright,  just  and  gen- 
erous to  all.  To  this  noble  character  and  virtuous  life, 
he  exhibited  an  amiability  of  temper  and  disposition,  that 
drew  forth  the  admiration  of  all  who  knew  him.  Indeed, 
so  attractive  did  this  young  ruler  appear  as  he  knelt  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus,  declaring  that  he  had  kept  all  the  com- 
mandments from  his  youth,  that  it  is  said,  '  'Jesus  behold- 
ing him  loved  him.''  As  a  certain  writer  has  appropri- 
ately said,  "It  was  something  new  and  refreshing  to  the 
Saviour's  eye  to  see  such  a  specimen  as  this  of  truthful- 
ness and  purity,  of  all  that  was  morally  lovely  and  of 
good  report  among  the  fulers  of  the  Jews.  Here  was  no 
hypocrite,  no  fanatic ;  here  was  one  who  had  not  learned 
to  wear  the  garb  of  sanctimoniousness  as  a  cover  for  all 
kinds  of  self-indulgence.  Here  was  one  who  had  thus 
far  escaped  the  contagion  of  his  age  and  sect,  who  was 
really  striving  to  keep  himself  from  all  that  was  wrong, 
and  endeavoring  to  be  towards  his  fellow-men  all  that  he 
understood  the  law  of  God  required."  And  as  Jesus 
looked  upon  this  noble  young  ruler  of  wealth  and  distinc- 
tion, humbly  kneeling  at  his  feet  asking  the  way  of  eternal 
life,  ' '  he  loved  him. ' '  Here  is  the  highest  tribute  that  has 
ever  been  paid  to  that  moral  goodness  which  is  attainable 
by  human  effort.  None  can  ever  hope  to  surpass  it; 
few  ever  equal  it.     To  be  so  upright,  so  just,  so  amiable, 


178  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

as  to  win  the  love  of  the  Saviour,  is  an  attainment  few, 
if  any,  will  venture  to  claim  for  themselves.  And  yet> 
if  it  were  true  that  any  one  could  be  classed  with  this 
young  ruler,  it  will  be  seen  that  eternal  life  is  not  se- 
cured, and  the  deep  cravings  of  the  heart  are  not  satis- 
fied. This  very  fact  ought  to  have  led  that  young  man 
to  suspect  that  there  was  something  wrong  in  himself. 
If  his  morality  was  sufficient,  why  did  he  come  to  Jesus 
at  all?  He  was  a  rigid  moralist,  but  his  soul  had  never 
felt  the  first  pulsations  of  a  new  life ;  his  heart  w^as  not 
happy  with  a  sense  of  the  divine  love,  and  he  knew  not 
the  meaning  of  forgiveness.  **  Beneath  all  the  pleasing 
show  of  outward  moralities,  there  was  in  that  young 
ruler's  breast  a  lamentable  want  of  any  true  regard  to 
God,  or  any  recognition  of  his  supreme  and  paramount 
claims.  His  heart,  his  trust  and  his  treasure  were  in 
earthly,  not  heavenly  things.  He  needed  a  severe  les- 
son to  teach  him  this  fact  and  to  lay  bare  at  once  the  true 
state  of  things  in  his  soul. ' '  He  had  yet  to  learn  what 
true  obedience  to  the  law  of  God  was.  He  had  yet  to 
discover  the  pure  spirituality  of  the  law,  and  have  its 
claims  flashed  upon  his  naked  soul,  demanding  that  love 
to  God  shall  be  the  prime  motive  of  every  act  of  obedi- 
ence. It  was  a  critical  moment  in  this  young  man's 
history.  He  was  at  the  feet  of  the  divine  Master,  who 
knew  what  he  was,  and  whose  searching  eye  read  the 
hidden  thoughts  of  his  heart.  And  when  he  said,  I  have 
kept  the  commandments,  and  asked  the  question,  "  What 
lack  I  yetf  Jesus  said  unto  him,  ''If  thou  wilt  be  per- 
fect, go  and  sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor ;  and 
come  and  follow  me.''  ''And  when  he  heard  tliat  saying, 
he  we7it  away  sorroivfid,  for  he  had  great  possessions.'' 
The  one  thing  lacking  was  not  the  mere  renunciation  of 
his  property  and  giving  it  to  the  poor ;  it  was  a  supreme 


THE  RULER  S  QUESTION.  179 

devotedness  to  God,  and  clearly  indicated  duty  which  he 
lacked — a  willingness  to  give  up  anything,  yea,  every- 
thing, if  God  required  it,  when  the  holding  of  it  was  in- 
consistent with  fidelity  to  him.  Jesus  Christ  struck 
directly  at  the  idol  of  this  young  ruler's  heart,  and  he 
required  the  instant  and  absolute  dethronement.  The 
demand  was  refused.  He  would  neither  give  his  pro- 
perty to  the  poor,  nor  would  he  follow  Christ.  He  could 
not  bear  the  test.  He  was  not  what  he  was  supposed  to 
be.  This  thought  brings  us  to  the  second  part  of  our 
discourse — 

II.    The  solution  the  Master  gives  of  the  case  of  this 
young  nia7i. 

We  have  here  a  most  signal  exhibition  of  the  fact  that 
amiability  of  character  and  a  rigid  moral  life  furnish  no 
assurance  that  the  heart  is  right  with  God.  This  young 
man  had  the  outward  appearance  of  keeping  the  law  ;  he 
was  honest,  he  was  upright,  he  respected  all  the  rights 
of  his  neighbors ;  but  he  did  not  love  God  supremely ; 
he  had  never  given  his  heart  with  all  its  wealth  of  love 
to  God ;  he  had  never  brought  himself  to  the  point  to 
say  that  the  divine  will  should  be  his  will.  Although 
he  knew  it  was  his  duty  to  dispose  of  his  property  to  the 
poor  and  follow  Christ,  he  was  not  willing  to  take  the 
step ;  he  chose  to  do  the  very  opposite,  to  keep  his  pos- 
sessions and  go  away.  Such  was  the  temper  and  spirit 
of  this  young  man,  whose  moral  character  a  little  while 
ago  appeared  so  attractive.  It  was  his  boast  that  he  had 
kept  the  law  from  his  youth  up,  and  yet  his  obedience 
was  wanting  in  the  particular  element  which  alone  can 
render  any  obedience  acceptable,  and  that  is  supreme 
love  to  God.  The  specific  demand  of  the  law  is,  "Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  soul, 
mind  and  strength."     Every  precept  of  the  decalogue  is 


l8o  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

inlaid  in  this  principle ;  and  no  obedience  can  be  perfect 
that  is  not  prompted  by  this  love.  Here  is  the  fatal 
rock  on  which  this  young  ruler,  with  all  his  morality 
and  amiability  of  character,  w^as  wrecked.  He  had  large 
possessions  which  he  loved  more  than  God,  and  he 
would  rather  keep  them  than  part  with  them  to  follow 
Christ. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  the  Master  is  here  lay- 
ing down  a  universal  condition  fo  Christian  discipleship . 
No  such  thing  is  intended ;  he  puts  no  premium  on  pov- 
erty, and  he  puts  no  penalty  on  wealth.  It  is  a  particular 
treatment  which  he  adopts  for  a  specific  case.  If  the  diffi- 
culty in  the  way  of  following  Christ  had  been  the  love  of 
pleasure,  or  the  love  of  power,  or  any  other  object,  the  test 
which  the  case  needed  would  have  been  framed  accordingly . 
We  are  not  forbidden  to  love  any  object  that  is  properly 
worthy  of  our  love,  but  we  are  to  allow  no  object,  what- 
ever it  may  be,  to  stand  in  the  way  of  our  following 
Christ.  God  is  justly  entitled  to  the  highest  place  in 
our  affections,  and  no  idol  can  ever  be  allowed  to  usurp 
that  sacred  throne.  This  is  the  very  difficulty  that 
stands  in  the  way  of  many  persons  becoming  Christians. 
I  may  be  addressing  some  one  to-day  who  is  stumbling 
just  here.  You  perhaps  have  said,  "  I  would  like  to  be 
a  follower  of  Jesus,"  **  I  would  like  to  become  a  child  of 
God,"  "I  would  like  to  join  the  church,"  but  there  is 
this  difficulty  in  the  way,  and  I  cannot  do  it. 

I  beg  you  to  consider  most  seriously  what  you  are 
doing.  Your  case  is  precisely  that  of  the  young  man 
who  came  to  Christ.  You  are  allowing  some  particular 
object  to  come  between  you  and  your  recognized  duty  to 
God.  You  have  something  which  you  are  not  willing 
to  give  up,  something  which  you  are  not  willing  to  sac- 
rifice, to  follow  Jesus.     So  long  as  this  is  true  you  never 


THE  ruler's  question.  i8i 

can  become  a  Christian.  You  may  be  amiable  and 
lovely,  you  may  be  honest  and  upright,  you  may  be  gen- 
erous and  benevolent — all  this  will  not  give  you  eternal 
life.  God  must  be  enthroned  in  your  aifections,  your 
heart  must  be  given  to  him  before  you  can  be  saved. 
Whenever  the  sinner  comes  to  the  point  that  he  is 
willing  to  give  up  all  for  Christ,  every  difiSculty  disap- 
pears at  once,  and  he  finds  himself,  he  scarcely  knows 
how,  in  possession  of  a  new  life  and  a  blessed  hope. 

How  different  would  it  have  been  with  the  young 
Jewish  ruler,  if  he  had  been  willing  to  give  up  all  to  follow 
the  Master.  He  was,  perhaps,  unable  to  see  how  such  a 
step  could  give  eternal  life,  but  God  required  it,  and  it 
was  his  duty  to  obey.  To  him  eternal  life  was  not  pos- 
sible in  any  other  way.  And  so  it  is  now  we  have  the 
unequivocal  word  of  the  Master :  ''If  any  man  will  be 
my  disciple  y  let  him  deny  himself  ,  take  up  his  cross  and 
follow  me. ' '  On  no  other  terms  can  salvation  be  found. 
And  yet  there  is  a  particular  something  which  keeps 
many  a  sinner  from  becoming  a  follower  of  Christ. 
Each  individual  has  his  particular  [hinderance,  which 
prevents  him  from  doing  what  he  knows  he  ought  to  do. 
These  difiiculties,  whatever  they  may  be,  will  be  sure  to 
stand  between  the  sinner  and  his  Saviour  just  so  long  as 
he  chooses  to  let  them  be  there.  But  can  he  consent 
that  any  difficulty,  whatever  may  be  its  magnitude,  shall 
keep  him  back  from  discharging  that  highest  of  all  du- 
ties, giving  his  heart  to  God'i  Lef  no  one  be  deceived 
here.  The  hinderances  that  keep  the  sinner  back  from 
the  Saviour  are  hinderances  only  so  long  as  he  chooses 
to  make  them  such.  All  difi&culties  vanish  so  soon  as  the 
sinner  makes  up  his  mind  to  trust  all  to  the  Saviour; 
and  there  is  no  obstacle  to  this  trust  but  his  own 
will. 


l82  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

The  third  part  of  our  discourse  was  to  consider — 
III.    The  result  of  this  inte7view  between  the you7ig  ruler 
a7id  Jesus  Christ. 

When  the  question  was  asked  so  reverently  at  the 
feet  of  the  Master,  *'  What  good  thi?ig  shall  I  do,  that  I 
may  have  ete?7ial  life,''  it  was  natural  to  suppose  the 
young  man  would  willingly  do  whatever  might  be  re- 
quired of  him  to  obtain  this  blessing.  Such,  however, 
was  not  the  case.  When  "eternal  life"  was  offered  to 
him  on  terms  so  different  from  what  he  had  supposed,  he 
declined  it.  He  would  willingly  have  undertaken  to  do 
some  extraordinary  work,  if  thereby  he  could  merit,  or 
be  entitled  to  eternal  life,  but  he  would  have  it  on  no 
other  condition.  He  wanted  the  blessing,  but  he  must 
have  it  on  his  own  terms  and  in  his  own  way.  The 
case  of  this  young  man  is  a  fair  illustration  of  what  is 
daily  taking  place  under  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
Persons  are  asking  what  they  must  do  to  be  saved,  but 
they  are  unwilling  to  do  what  that  gospel  requires ;  and 
salvation  is  not  possible  in  any  other  way.  It  is  true 
eternal  life  was  once  offered  to  our  race  as  the  reward  of 
perfect  obedience,  but  that  opportunity  was  lost  forever 
when  Adam  sinned  and  fell.  Obedience  to  law  is  not 
now  the  source  of  spiritual  life  to  our  sin-cursed  race. 
The  law  has  no  life-giving  power.  Under  the  ' '  cove- 
nant of  grace, ' '  however,  a  new  order  of  things  is  intro- 
duced. Eter7ial  life  is  now  offered  as  ' '  the  gift  of  God 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. "  It  is  no  longer  a  ques- 
tion of  doing,  it  is  a  question  solely  of  faith,  faith  in  a 
particular  person.  Believe  on  Jesus  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved.  It  is  an  astounding  procedure,  filHng  heaven 
and  earth  with  amazement.  Still,  it  is  true.  Faith, 
humble,  child-like  faith,  is  all  that  is  demanded  of  the 
sinner  that  he  may  have  eternal  life.      Whatever  may 


THE  ruler's  question.  183 

be  the  mysteries  about  faith,  it  is  the  sinner's  own  indi- 
vidual act,  for  which  he  is  held  responsible,  and  he 
should  not  delay  to  put  its  virtue  to  the  test.  He,  who 
believes,  is  saved,  saved  immediately,  saved  for  ever. 
''He  that  believeth  o?i  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life;  he 
that  believeth  not  the  Son,  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of 
God  abideth  07i  him. ' ' 

Morality,  amiability  of  character,  and  uprightness  of 
conduct,  are  all  very  good,  they  are  qualities  which  chal- 
lenge our  admiration  and  love,  but  they  are  insufl&cient 
to  deal  with  the  fearful  questions  of  sin  and  guilt,  and 
death.  Faith  is  the  mighty  power  the  sinner  needs.  It 
opens  to  him  the  vast  treasures  of  a  Saviour's  love.  It 
wipes  out  all  the  disastrous  consequences  of  sin,  and  fills 
his  new-born  soul  with  joy  and  rejoicing.  It  readjusts 
his  relations  to  the  divine  law  in  a  harmony  that  can 
never  be  broken,  and  it  transforms  his  whole  nature  into 
the  divine  image,  which  he  shall  wear  for  ever.  This  is 
the  precious  message  of  the  gospel :  * '  God  so  loved  the 
worlds  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  shotdd  not  perish^  but  have  everlasting 
life:' 


THE   CHILDREN    OF   THE  COVENANT 

THEIR  PRIVILEGES  AND  RESPONSIBILITIES. 

BY  REV.  S.  W.  DAVIES,  D.  D., 
Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Fayettevzlle,  Ark. 


"Ye  are  the  children  of  the  prophets,  and  of  the  covenant 
which  God  made  with  our  fathers,  saying  unto  Abraham,  And 
in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  kindreds  of  the  earth  be  blessed.  Unto 
you  first  God,  having  raised  up  his  Son  Jesus,  sent  him  to  bless 
you,  in  turning  away  everyone  of  you  from  his  iniquities." — 
Acts  iii.  25,  26, 

WHAT  is  the  covenant  here  referred  to ?     In  what 
sense  were  the  Jews  whom  the  apostle  addressed, 
and   in   what  sense     are    all   baptized   persons 
now,  children  of  this  covenant  ?  .  And  what  are  the  bene- 
fits and  duties  resulting  from  this  relation  ? 

The  covenant  here  referred  to,  as  the  terms  used  to 
describe  it  indicate,  is  the  covenant  which  God  made 
with  Abraham,  sometimes  called  the  the  Covenant  of 
Circumcision,  from  its  original  sealing  ordinance.  The 
record  of  its  institution  is  contained  in  the  seventeenth 
chapter  of  Genesis.  This  covenant  marks  an  important 
epoch  in  the  history  of  redemption.  From  it  dates  the 
origin  of  the  church  as  a  visible,  organized  body,  distinct 
from  the  family  and  the  state.  It  was  made  with  Abra- 
ham as  the  representative  of  the  faithful  of  all  ages  and 
nations  (Rom.  iv.  11,  12,  and  Gal.  iii.  29);  and  its 
design  and  effect  was  to  organize  believers  and  their 
children  into  a  visible  society  or  church  ;  separating 
them  from  the  unbelieving  world,  at  first  by  the  outward 

184 


AT: 


gsedto 
.:  ziade 
-■•::  of 

Tlie 


uei: 


j|i 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  COVENANT.  185 

rite  of  circumcision,  and  afterwards  by  baptism.  The 
component  elements  of  the  church  existed  before  this 
covenent.  There  was  a  revelation  of  the  Saviour  and  of 
the  way  of  salvation  through  him  ;  there  were  believers, 
and  there  were  institutions  and  ordinances  of  divine  wor- 
ship, for  the  instruction,  the  strengthening  and  comfort 
of  believers.  But  there  was  no  visible  church  organiza- 
tion, separate  and  distinct  from  the  family  and  the  state. 
On  the  other  hand,  from  this  time  forward,  through  the 
entire  Scriptures,  the  visible  church  can  be  distinctly 
traced  as  a  separate  organized  society,  with  a  government 
and  officers  established  in  it ;  as  a  body  externally  called 
to  the  privilege  of  receiving  the  oracles  of  God,  of  being 
under  the  charge  of  Jehovah,  as  his  peculiar  people,  and 
of  being  the  special  beneficiary  of  the  blessings  of  the 
covenant. 

If  starting  with  the  church  as  an  existing  institution , 
you  undertake  to  find  its  origin  by  tracing  its  history 
backward  to  its  source,  you  will  search  in  vain  for  it 
anywhere  short  of  this  covenant  with  Abraham.  All  are 
agreed  that  it  has  not  originated  since  the  age  of  the 
apostles.  And  if  you  examine  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
and  the  later  books  of  the  New  Testament  you  will  find 
abundant  references  to  ' '  the  church  "  as  an  existing 
institution,  but  there  is  no  account  of  its  organization. 
The  gospels,  in  like  manner,  are  absolutely  silent  on  this 
point,  a  fact  which  cannot  be  accounted  for,  if,  as  some 
would  have  us  believe,  the  church  was  organized  by  the 
Lord  Jesus,  or  by  his  great  forerunner,  John  the  Baptist. 
So  through  all  the  ages  back  to  Moses  we  can  trace  the 
existence  of  the  church.  And  even  Moses  found  it  in 
existence  when  he  began  his  mission  ;  for  it  was  to  the 
assembled  elders  of  Israel,  the  representatives  of  the 
church  as  an  organized  body,  that  he  was  directed  by  the 


1 86  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

Lord  to  present  his  credentials.  But  when  we  take  a 
step  further  back  in  the  history,  and  come  to  Abraham, 
we  find  no  longer  any  references  pointing  us  still  back- 
ward ;  but  here  stands  this  peculiar  transaction,  consti- 
tuting him  "the  father  of  many  nations,"  under  "an 
everlasting  covenant,"  with  a  special  "seal,"  marking 
and  separating  him  and  his  seed  from  the  world.  Here 
then,  we  are  warranted  in  concluding,  we  have  found 
the  object  of  our  search  ;  since  no  where  else,  as  we  have 
traced  the  history  backward,  have  we  found  anything 
like  a  divine  charter  or  covenant  creating  this  singular 
and  evidently  divine  institution. 

We  are  justified,  therefore,  in  asserting,  that  the  cove- 
nant with  Abraham,  to  which  the  apostle  refers  in  the 
text,  is  the  divine  charter  of  the  church,  as  heretofore 
and  still  existing ;  and  that  there  has  never  been  but  one 
church,  in  the  broad  sense  in  which  we  here  use  the 
term.  There  has  not  been  an  Old  Testament  church 
and  a  New  Testament  church,  a  Jewish  church  and  a 
Christian  church,  in  the  sense  of  two  separate,  indepen- 
dent and  in  some  sense  antagonistic  organizations ;  but 
only  an  Old  Testament  fo7m,  and  a  New  Testament 
form  of  the  one  only  church  of  the  living  God.  Its  out- 
ward ordinances  and  modes  of  worship  have  been  changed 
under  different  dispensations  to  suit  the  requirements  of 
the  changing  times  and  circumstances.  But  the  church 
itself  has  not  been  dissolved,  nor  its  divine  and  everlast- 
ing charter  annulled.  It  was  in  this  church  that  God 
"set  some  apostles,  some  prophets,  and  some  pastors 
and  teachers  under  the  new  dispensation."  It  was  from 
this  church  that  the  unbelieving  Jews  were  cast  out  after 
they  had  rejected  their  Messiah  ;  and  it  was  into  this 
same  church  that  the  believing  Gentiles  were  grafted, 
when  they  believed  the  gospel  and  turned  from  their 
iniquities  unto  God.     (Rom.  xi.  17-20.) 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  COVENANT.  187 

By  this  covenant,  made  with  Abraham  and  his  seed, 
as  the  representatives  of  beHevers  and  their  children  in 
all  ages,  not  only  are  they  organized  into  a  body  distinct 
from  the  world,  called  the  church  ;  but  certain  privileges 
and  blessings  are  guaranteed  to  them.  These  are  ex- 
pressed in  the  declarations,  "I  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and 
to  thy  seed  after  thee,"  and  **  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed."  In  which  God  indi- 
cates his  purpose  to  be  a  God  to  this  peculiar  body  of 
people  in  a  special  sense  ;  to  dwell  among  them,  to  mani- 
fest himself  to  them  and  to  bless  them,  as  he  does  not 
the  world,  and  through  them  to  make  known  his  grace 
and  salvation  to  the  nations.  They  are  his  peculiar  peo- 
ple, the  special  objects  of  his  favor  and  care  ;  and  among 
them  he  dwells  and  m  anifests  the  glory  of  his  grace.  To 
them  are  committed  the  oracles  of  God.  Theirs  are  the 
covenants  and  the  promises.  For  their  gathering,  edifi- 
cation and  comfort  the  ministry  of  the  word  is  ordained, 
and  the  ordinances  of  divine  worship  instituted  and  main- 
tained ;  and  they  are  God's  chosen  and  commissioned 
agents  for  disseminating  the  knowledge  of  his  truth  and 
salvation  among  their  fellow- men. 

Now  of  this  covenant  with  the  fathers,  organizing  the 
visible  church,  and  guaranteeing  to  it  these  precious 
privileges,  the  Apostle  Peter,  in  the  text,  tells  the  un- 
converted Jews  of  his  day  that  they  were  ' '  the  children  ' ' 
or  heirs.  By  which  he  means,  that  they  were  parties 
to  the  covenant  and  interested  in  its  provisions.  In 
other  words,  they  were  members  of  the  church  and 
participants  in  its  privileges.  And  inasmuch  as  the 
covenant  with  Abraham  has  never  been  annulled,  and 
the  church  of  to-day  is  the  legitimate  successor,  the  actual 
continuation  of  the  church  which  was  organized  under 
that  covenant,  the  baptized  children  of  believing  parents 


1 88  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

sustain  a  similar  relation  to  the  church  and  its  privileges. 
They  are  not  made  members  of  the  church  by  their  bap- 
tism any  more  than  the  children  of  Israelitish  parents 
were  made  members  by  their  circumcision.  But  the 
latter  were  circumcised,  and  the  former  are  now  baptized, 
because  of  their  being  members.  It  is  in  reference  to 
this  that  believers  are  called  saints,  and  their  children  are 
said  to  be  holy.  By  this  it  is  not  meant  that  they  are 
sinless,  but  that  they  are  consecrated  to  God.  They 
belong  to  the  Lord,  they  are  separated  and  set  apart  to 
the  service  of  the  Lord.  And  as  the  parents  are  holy,  so 
also  is  their  offspring.  "The  believing  husband  sancti- 
fieth  the  unbelieving  wife ;  and  the  believing  wife  sancti- 
fieth  the  unbelieving  husband;  else  were  your  children 
unholy ;  but  now  are  they  holy. ' '  That  is  to  say,  the 
children  of  believing  parents  are  consecrated  to  God, 
members  of  the  church,  and  sharers  in  its  privileges,  by 
virtue  of  their  relation  to  their  parents  ;  and  their  baptism 
is  simply  the  outward  sign  and  symbol  of  their  member- 
ship. 

But  when  we  affirm  that  the  children  of  believing 
parents  are  members  of  the  visible  church  and  partakers 
of  its  privileges,  we  do  not  mean  to  be  understood  as 
holding  and  teaching  that  they,  in  all  respects,  stand  on 
exactly  the  same  footing  in  the  church  as  their  believing 
parents.  Our  little  children  are  citizens  of  the  state, 
subject  to  its  authority,  and  entitled  to  its  protection. 
And  they  are  such  by  virtue  of  their  relation  to  their 
parents ;  but  they  are  minors.  They  do  not  enjoy  the 
privilege  of  transacting  business  in  their  own  names,  of 
voting  or  of  holding  office.  Their  citizenship  is  com- 
passed with  certain  limitations  until  they  reach  a  certain 
age.  So  in  the  church,  the  children  of  believers  are 
members,  but   not  in  full   communion.     They  are  not 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  COVENANT.  189 

admitted  to  the  Lord's  table,  nor  to  the  privilege  of 
voting  and  holding  ofiSce  in  the  church.  There  is  this 
difference,  however,  between  the  minor  in  the  state  and 
the  minor  in  the  church  :  the  minor  in  the  state  is  ad- 
mitted to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  full  citizenship 
when  he  attains  to  a  certain  age  ;  but  in  the  church  the 
minor  is  invested  with  the  rights  and  privileges  of  full 
membership  as  soon  as  he  gives  evidence  of  personal 
piety,  and  not  until  he  does  give  such  evidence.  Hence 
the  children  of  believing  parents,  who  do  not  give  evi- 
dence of  a  change  of  heart  and  personal  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  are  members  of  the  church  in  a  state  of 
spiritual  minority,  even  though  they  may  be  mature  men 
and  women. 

But  though  justly  and  properly  debarred  from  the  spe- 
cial privileges  which  I  have  mentioned,  unconverted 
children  of  the  covenant,  by  virtue  of  their  connection 
with  the  church,  enjoy  many  peculiarly  precious  and 
exalted  privileges.  Their  church  membership,  though 
often  undervalued  and  despised,  is  far  from  being  a  mere 
nominal  thing.  Among  the  precious  privileges  secured 
to  the  children  of  the  covenant  by  their  connection  with 
the  church,  may  be  mentioned — 

I.  The  example,  training,  instructions,  and  prayers  of 
pious  parents.  How  much  depends  on  early  training. 
How  infinitely  important  to  men's  temporal  and  eternal 
interests  that  this  early  training  should  be  of  the  right 
kind.  And  what  an  inestimably  precious  heritage  are 
the  prayers  of  consecrated  fathers  and  mothers.  Is  it, 
then,  a  matter  of  small  consequence  that  you  were  bom 
in  a  godly  home,  and  of  parents  who  themselves  feared 
God;  and  who  recognized  their  religious  obligations  to 
you,  who  pledged  themselves  by  solemn  vows  to  train 
you  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  and 


IQO  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

who  not  only  continually  prayed  with  and  for  you,  but 
taught  you  to  pray  for  yourselves  ?  Have  you  ever  re- 
flected, you  who  have  had  pious  parents,  how  different 
is  your  condition,  and  how  great  have  been  your  advan- 
tages over  those  whose  parents  are  pagans,  or  like  many 
that  you  know  around  you,  unbelieving,  irreligious,  and 
wicked ;  who  never  pray  with  or  for  their  children,  never 
teach  them  to  pray,  or  to  read  God's  word,  or  to  go  to 
God's  house  on  the  Sabbath,  but  suffer  them  to  grow  up 
in  ignorance,  irreligion,  and  vice?  Whatever  advantages 
you  enjoy  in  these  respects,  you  owe  them  to  the  fact 
that  you  are  children  of  the  covenant. 

2.  Another  benefit  which  you  derive  from  your  con- 
nection with  the  church,  through  your  pious  parents,  is 
the  oversight,  the  instruction  and  the  pastoral  care  of 
the  officers  of  the  church.  This  is  a  privilege  by  no 
means  to  be  despised.  It  throws  around  you  safeguards, 
and  affords  you  advantages,  for  securing  your  own  per- 
sonal salvation  not  enjoyed  by  others.  It  is  a  very  great 
advantage  to  have  been  taught  to  respect  the  Sabbath 
and  the  house  of  God,  and  from  childhood  to  have  known 
the  Scriptures.  But  as  experience  proves,  the  instruc- 
tions and  example  of  pious  parents  need  to  be  followed 
up,  and  reinforced  by  the  affectionate  oversight,  the  wise 
counsels,  and  the  tender  warnings  and  appeals  of  the 
faithful  officers  of  God's  house,  and  the  sanctifying,  re- 
straining and  elevating  influences  of  the  instructions  and 
worship  of  the  sanctuary.  These  are,  under  God,  most 
powerful  and  effective  means  of  bringing  men  to  a  saving 
knowledge  of  God,  and  a  personal  consecration  of  them- 
selves to  his  service.  And  it  is  to  this  circumstance 
that  their  connection  with  the  church,  brings  them 
directly  and  constantly  under  these  influences,  that  we 
are  to  attribute  the  significant  fact,  that  the  great  majority 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  COVENANT.  191 

of  all  true  converts  come  from  among  the  children  of  the 
covenant. 

3.  But  the  benefit  of  greatest  value  involved  in  your 
hereditary  connection  with  the  church,  is  the  intimate 
and  peculiar  relation  into  which  it  brings  you  with  God 
himself.  As  children  of  the  covenant  you  stand  in  a 
different  relation  to  God  from  the  children  of  unbelievers. 
He  stands  pledged  to  be  a  God  to  you  in  a  sense  in  which 
he  is  not  their  God.  You  are  his  people  in  a  sense  in 
which  they  are  not.  You  are  lambs  of  his  flock.  His 
name  is  upon  your  brows.  You  are  under  his  special 
guardianship  and  care.  You  are  objects  of  his  most 
tender  interest  and  regard.  "However  wayward  you 
may  be ;  however  forgetful  of  him  and  of  your  duty  to 
him,  the  Great  Shepherd  does  not  forget  you."  He 
thinks  of  you  as  a  wanderer  from  his  fold.  He  pities 
you  in  your  wanderings,  and  longs  to  see  you  turn  from 
your  iniquities  and  come  back  to  him.  This  is  what 
Peter  meant  when  to  the  Jews,  who  like  you  were 
* '  children  of  the  covenant, ' '  and  had  like  you  received 
the  seal  of  the  covenant  in  infancy,  he  said,  "  Unto  you 
first, ' '  as  those  in  whom  he  felt  the  deepest  interest,  and 
for  whom  he  had  the  most  anxious  solicitude,  ' '  Unto 
you  first,  God  having  raised  up  his  Son,  sent  him  to 
bless  you,  in  turning  away  every  one  of  you  from  his 
iniquities."  For  though,  thank  God,  the  Saviour  and 
the  gospel  are  for  all  men,  and  "whosoever  will  may 
come  and  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely ' ' ;  yet  there  is  a 
sense  in  which  they  are  specially  for  his  covenant  peo- 
ple. For  when  God  sent  forth  Jesus  his  Son,  he  sent 
him ^rsty  not  to  the  Greeks,  or  to  the  Romans,  or  to  any 
other  Gentile  nation,  but  to  his  own  covenant  people. 
And  so  still,  when  he  comes  by  his  word  and  Spirit  to 
bless  and  to  save,  it  is  to  you,  the  children  of  the  cove- 


192  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

nant,  first,  that  he  comes,  and  afterwards  to  others. 
You  are  permitted  therefore  to  feel,  without  presumption, 
that  you  are  nearer  to  him.  "  You  may  go  to  him  with 
more  freedom  in  prayer.  You  have  special  promises 
that  you  can  plead.  Like  the  psalmist  you  cannot  only 
say,  "O  Lord,  truly  I  am  thy  servant";  but  you  can 
also  say,  "I  am  the  son  of  thine  handmaid."  You 
can  plead  out  only  the  promises  that  are  made  to  those 
who  penitently  turn  to  God ;  but  you  can  plead  the 
promises  that  are  made  to  "the  children,  and  to  the 
children's  children  of  such  as  love  him  and  keep  his 
commandments."  You  are  therefore  under  special  and 
peculiar  obligations  to  love  and  obey  the  Saviour ;  and 
the  sin  of  despising  and  neglecting  him  is,  in  you,  pecu- 
liarly heinous. 

I  need  hardly  remind  you  that  these  distinguished 
privileges  are  bestowed  upon  you,  not  for  your  sakes 
alone,  not  to  encourage  in  you  spiritual  pride,  or  arro- 
gance, or  carnal  security  ;  but  that  in  you,  and  by  means 
of  you,  all  men  might  be  made  partakers  of  his  grace 
and  salvation.  All  your  privileges,  great  and  precious 
as  they  are,  will  not  save  you,  if  you  do  not  personally 
accept  Christ  as  your  Saviour,  and  turn  from  your  iniqui- 
ties unto  God.  Not  only  so,  but  they  will  increase  your 
guilt,  and  fearfully  aggravate  your  condemnation  if  you 
despise  or  abuse  them.  Esau  and  Ishmael  were  children 
of  the  covenant.  Both  of  them  received  the  seal  of  the 
covenant,  and  were  dedicated  to  God  in  infancy.  But 
they  despised  their  birthright  and  neglected  to  improve 
their  privileges,  and  for  their  unbelief  and  sin  w^ere  cut 
oJBf  from  the  congregation  of  the  Lord  ;  and  they  and 
their  children  excluded  from  the  blessings  of  the  cove- 
nant. And  many  of  the  very  persons  to  whom  the 
words  of  our  text  were  originally  addressed  refused  to 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  COVENANT.  I93 

believe  and  obey  the  preaching  of  the  apostles,  rejected 
the  Saviour,  and  perished  in  their  sins.  Take  heed, 
therefore,  lest  a  similar  or  worse  thing  befall  you.  Many 
of  you  are  yet  young  it  is  true ;  but  you  are  old  enough 
to  understand  and  appreciate  your  privileges  and  re- 
sponsibilities. You  are  old  enough  and  you  know 
enough  to  love  and  trust  and  obey  the  Saviour ;  and  yet 
some  of  you  are  not  doing  it.  For  all  that  the  gracious 
Saviour  has  done  for  you,  your  love  and  gratitude  and 
obedience  are  due  in  return  to  him.  Not  to  love  him, 
not  to  trust  him,  not  to  turn  from  all  sin  to  him,  is  a 
great  sin,  even  in  those  who  have  only  heard  of  him 
with  the  hearing  of  the  ear ;  but  in  you  it  is  grievous 
and  inexcusable  wickedness.  Let  your  earnest  and  daily 
prayer  be,  '*  Gracious  Saviour,  teach  me  to  know  thee 
and  to  love  thee.  Reclaim  me  from  all  my  wanderings. 
Bless  me  with  thy  light  and  thy  salvation.  Let  me  abide 
forever  under  thy  gentle  control,  as  one  of  the  sheep  of 
thy  pasture — one  of  the  people  of  thy  care. ' ' 

Some  of  you,  on  the  other  hand,  have  long  passed  the 
period  of  childhood.  The  claims  of  the  loving  Saviour 
have  often  been  pressed  home  upon  your  hearts  and  con- 
sciences, and  as  often  been  neglected  or  resisted.  How 
much  longer  do  you  intend  thus  to  trifle  with  the  patience 
and  forbearance  of  God?  Will  his  Spirit  always  strive? 
Are  your  birthright  privileges  in  the  kingdom  of  God 
matters  of  so  little  value  that  they  may  be  bartered  away 
for  some  momentary  sensual  gratification,  or  trifling 
earthly  advantage?  Let  the  melancholly  experience  of 
poor  Esau,  his  early  folly  and  profane  contempt  for  his 
high  spiritual  privileges,  and  his  subsequent  remorse 
and  anguish  and  hopeless  unavailing  grief  and  regret  be 
a  warning  to  all  who  sustain  similar  relations  to  the 
church  and  the  blessings  and  privileges  that  belong  to 


194  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

its  true  and  faithful  members  ;  and  let  them  by  sincere 
and  timely  repentance  and  turning  to  God  save  them- 
selves from  a  similar  or  worse  fate. 

We  are,  it  will  hence  be  seen,  not  without  a  sufficient 
and  satisfactory  answer  to  the  question,  which  many  re- 
gard as  a  fatal  objection  to  the  doctrine  of  infant  baptism 
and  infant  church  membership,  viz.  :  What  good  do  they 
do?  Of  what  practical  benefit  are  baptism  and  member- 
ship in  the  church  to  infants,  who  can  neither  understand 
their  significance  nor  design  ?  Our  reply  is,  that  their 
benefits,  like  those  of  membership  in  the  family,  and 
citizenship  in  the  state,  are  not  dependent  upon  the 
child's  understanding  of  them.  The  little  ones,  by  the 
ordination  of  the  beneficent  creator,  are  born  into  the 
family,  because  they  need  its  love  and  care,  and  into  the 
state,  because  they  need  its  protection,  and  not  because 
they  understand  anything  about  these  things.  So  they 
are  born  into  the  church,  and  receive  baptism,  the  sign 
and  seal  of  membership,  not  because  they  understand 
the  meaning  and  purpose  of  these  things,  but  because, 
from  the  very  beginning,  they  need  the  spiritual  guar- 
dianship, instruction  and  care  of  the  church,  which  is 
charged  with  the  religious  oversight  and  training  of  both 
parents  and  children.  The  vows  which  the  church  exacts 
of  parents,  when  they  present  their  children  for  baptism, 
binding  them  by  the  most  sacred  obligations  to  train 
them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  she 
exacts  by  virtue  of  this  double  oversight  and  authority ; 
and  in  proportion  as  she  is  loyal  to  her  divine  Master, 
and  faithful  to  the  charge  which  he  has  commited  to 
her,  she  will  see  to  it  that  these  vows  are  fulfilled.  And 
as  from  the  beginning,  "  God  having  raised  up  his  Son 
Jesus,  sent  him  first  to  bless  the  Jews  in  turning  them 
from  their  iniquities,"  so  still  the  church's  mission  is 
first  to  her  own  baptized  children  and  then  to  the  world. 


MAN  INSPIRED  OF  GOD. 

BY  REV.   G.   R.   BRACKETT,  D.   D., 
Pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyteria7i  Church,  Charleston,  S.  C 


"There  isaspiritin  man.-  and  the  inspiration  ..-^  W,-^  Almiul.tv 
giveth  them. understanding. "—Job  xxxii,  8. 

ALL  things  sustain  necessary  and  vital  relations  to 
their  Creator.     In  him  they  '*live,  and  move,  and 
have  their  beirsr  "      "In  whose  hand  is  the  life  of 
very  living  U 


Wv'iiaenni 


seoveries 


oCiLiice  \  i  Uc  correlation  and  conserv'ation  of  forces.  The 
forces  of  light,  heat,  cheniica)  force,  and  electricity  are 
transmuted  into  each  other,  but  the  sum  of  the  original 
force  is  never  diminished  Moreover,  it  has  been  dis- 
covered that  the  sun  is  the  source  from  which  all  these 
forces  originate,  so  that  it  is  "one  and  the  same  force, 
but  under  a  vast  variety  of  modifications,  which  warms 
our  houses,  and  our  bodily  frames,  which  raises  the 
steam  and  impels  the  engine,  which  effects  the  different 
chemical  combinations,  which  flashes  in  the  lightning, 
and  lives  in  the  plant.  It  furnishes  the  most  striking 
manifestation  of  God;  the  one  God,  with  his  infinileh- 
varied  perfections  ;  and  we  sh<>uld  see  the  one  po\¥er 
blowing  in  the  breeze,  smiling  in  the  sunshine,  sparklM»p 
in  the  stars,  quickening  us  as  we  Ixjund  .ql  >r  ■  ^  ''  < 
best  enjoyment  of  health,  efflorescing  in  ev^ 
hue  of  beauty,  and  showering  dowi* 
Again,  we  read  :    •   ''''-  ^^--;-'     ■ 


196  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

and  the  breath  of  the  Almighty  hath  given  me  life. ' '  The 
word  "spirit"  literally  means  "breath,"  and  "inspira- 
tion" the  act  of  inbreathing.  In  a  physical  sense,  all 
life,  motion,  activity  depend  upon  the  constant  inspira- 
tion or  inbreathing  of  the  Almighty,  but  in  a  higher, 
spiritual  sense,  the  spirit  of  man  is  inspired  by  God. 

The  Spirit  of  God  is  said  to  exercise  a  peculiar  effi- 
ciency in  all  the  rational  and  moral  actions  of  men.  He 
inspired  men  to  rule  and  govern  his  ancient  people,  and 
with  courage  and  skill  in  the  day  of  battle.  Nor  is  this 
influence  confined  to  the  people  of  God.  Even  ungodly 
men  have  been  providentially  raised  up,  and  specially 
qualified  to  execute  divine  judgments.  Cyrus,  a  heathen 
prince,  is  called  the  "Lord's  anointed,"  and  Jehovah 
inspired  him  with  wisdom,  courage,  and  military  skill. 
Only  those  who  received  the  ' '  unction  of  the  Spirit ' ' 
were  said  to  be  anointed,  and  when  the  anointed  Cyrus 
had  accomplished  the  divine  purpose,  in  the  destruction 
of  Babylon,  Jehovah  said  to  him,  "I  have  girded  thee 
and  thou  hast  not  known  me." 

When  the  Persian  Empire  rose  like  a  mountain  before 
Zerubbabel,  apparently  an  impassable  barrier,  to  the 
work  assigned  him  of  rebuilding  the  temple,  the  prophet 
said,  *  *  Before  Zerubbabel,  O  mountain,  thou  shalt  become 
a  plain  ;  not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit, 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came 
upon  Joshua,  the  high  priest,  and  upon  Zerubbabel,  the 
civil  ruler,  and  upon  all  the  people, ' '  and  also  worked  in 
the  minds,  and  hearts,  and  counsels  of  their  enemies, 
bringing  them  to  confusion. 

When  the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  Gideon  and  Jeph- 
thah,  they  were  mighty  men  of  valor.  The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  came  mightily  upon  Samson,  inspiring  him  with 
bodily  strength,  and  when  the  Spirit  of  God  departed 


MAN  INSPIRED  OF  GOD.  1 97 

from  him  he  became  as  weak  as  other  men.  Bezaleel  and 
Aholiab  were  inspired  with  artistic  and  mechanical  skill 
for  *  *  cunning  workmanship  ' '  in  beautifying  the  taberna- 
cle. In  some  sense  all  men  are  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of 
God.  The  redemption  of  Christ  has  placed  the  world 
under  the  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  directs, 
controls,  and  restrains  the  ungodly,  and  whose  universal 
presence  and  agency  is  the  source  of  all  those  virtues 
that  are  the  bond  of  society. 

How  the  Spirit  of  God  works  in  and  through  the 
"spirit  in  man,"  without  disturbing  our  free  agency,  we 
do  not  know.  Neither  do  we  know  "how  the  light 
shines  through  the  transparent  crystal,  or  how  matter 
conducts  electricity,  or  how  an  opaque  body  becomes 
luminous  without  the  least  change  in  its  organization." 

But  passing  from  this  general  view  of  the  subject,  let 
us  consider  more  particularly  the  kind  of  inspiration 
indicated  in  our  text,  whereby  the  *  *  spirit  in  man  ' '  re- 
ceives such  an  ' '  understanding ' '  as  qualifies  for  the 
knowledge,  love,  and  service  of  God. 

I .  It  is  as  a  spirit  that  man  is  capable  of  divine  inspira- 
tion, and  as  a  spirit  he  is  related  to  God,  and  bears  his 
likeness.  God  is  the  "Father  of  our  spirits,"  and  "we 
are  his  offspring. ' '  The  soul  of  man  is  a  spiritual  sub- 
stance, manifesting  all  the  properties  of  pure  spirit.  It 
is  immaterial,  invisible,  indivisible,  intelligent,  self-con- 
scious, and  voluntarily  active.  He  who  can  say,  "I 
am,"  is  the  image  of  the  "  Great  I  Am."  He  who  can 
say,  ' '  I  think, ' '  is  the  image  of  the  Supreme  Intelligence. 
He  who  can  say,  "I  will,"  is  the  image  of  the  Omnipo- 
tent Sovereign.  He  who,  in  the  consciousness  of  per- 
sonal identity,  can  say  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
life,  "I  have  the  same  unchangeable  personality,"  is 
the  image  of  the  immutable    God,   who  is    "the  same 


198  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN    PULPIT. 

yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  He  who  has  but  to 
will  it,  and  his  imagination  calls  into  existence  new 
worlds,  and  peoples  them  with  its  own  ideal  creations, 
and  his  fashioning  hand  creates  new  forms  of  matter  in 
endless  combinations,  and  by  his  miracles  of  art  "mocks 
his  own  Creator's  skill,"  is  in  the  image  of  the  all- wise 
Creator.  He  who  feels  the  pulse  of  immortality  beating 
in  his  soul,  which  is  incapable  of  death  by  dissolution, 
bears  the  image  of  the  ever-living  God.  ' '  The  eternal 
years  of  God  are  hers."  He  who  sits  upon  the  throne 
of  the  lower  creation,  and  feels,  notwithstanding  his  lost 
"  dominion,"  that  he  is  still  lord  of  all,  "  subduing  time 
and  space,"  controlling  the  mighty  forces  of  nature,  and 
rendering  all  things  animate  and  inanimate,  subjects  of 
his  royal  authority,  and  compelling  them  to  glorify  his 
name,  and  who  rules  among  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth, 
is  the  image  of  '*the  sovereign  and  only  potentate,  the 
King  of  kings  and  the  Lord  of  lords. ' '  Thus,  as  another 
has  expressed  it,  man  bears  the  "traces  of  God's  incom- 
municable perfections."  All  this  is  implied  in  the  term 
"spirit,"  which  is  the  image  of  the  Infinite  Spirit,  con- 
sidered as  the  natural  image  of  God. 

But  man  was  created  for  moral  and  spiritual  ends,  of 
which  this  natural  image  is  the  mere  servant.  It  is  only 
as  this  spiritual  nature,  with  its  faculties  of  understand- 
ing, affection,  and  will  are  crowned  with  the  glory  of 
holiness,  that  man  reflects  the  image  of  God's  moral  per- 
fections. In  the  epistle  to  the  Colossians  we  learn  that 
*  *  the  new  man  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the  image 
of  him  that  created  him ' ' ;  and  the  Ephesians  are  ex- 
horted "to  put  on  the  new  man,  which  after  God  is 
created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness."  Holiness 
in  the  soul  is  what  life  is  in  the  body.  It  is  the  princi- 
ple  which    pervades   all  its  faculties    and    powers,   and 


MAN  INSPIRED  OF  GOD.  I99 

determines  their  character  and  direction.  Holiness  in 
the  understanding  imparts  to  all  our  information  the 
character  of  true  knowledge  and  wisdom.  We  know 
with  the  certainty  and  clearness  of  God's  knowledge  as 
we  become  like  him  in  holiness.  Holiness  in  the  heart, 
purifies  the  affections  and  draws  them  up  into  the  fellow- 
ship with  God,  and  our  love  responds  to  his  love.  Holi- 
ness in  the  conscience,  reveals  the  law  of  righteousness, 
the  image  of  God's  moral  rectitude.  Holiness  in  the 
will,  brings  it  into  gradual  harmony  with  the  will  of 
God,  and  produces  the  image  of  the  divine  freedom. 

Thus  holiness  is  the  bond  of  union  between  the  soul 
and  God,  and  between  the  various  powers  of  our  nature, 
securing  their  perfection  and  harmony.  If  we  were  per- 
fectly holy,  knowledge  would  always  nourish  our  love, 
and  love  would  always  move  the  will,  and  the  will, 
guided  by  the  law  of  the  conscience,  would  always  yield 
a  spontaneous  and  joyful  obedience.  As  by  an  irre- 
sistible attraction,  holiness  draws  all  the  powers  of  the 
soul  to  God,  as  the  centre  and  inspiration  of  all  their 
movements,  which  realizes  its  perfection  and  blessed- 
ness in  the  divine  favor,  fellowship  and  service.  For  as 
holiness  is  the  life  of  the  soul,  love  is  the  life  of  holiness, 
and  communion  and  obedience  are  the  life  of  love. 

All  this  is  implied  in  the  term  * '  spirit. ' '  The  ' '  spirit 
in  man ' '  is  the  image  of  the  spirit  in  God.  Man  was 
created  in  his  likeness  that  he  might  be  capable  of  divine 
inspirations.  He  was  made  to  receive  all  the  fulness  of 
those  attributes  of  spirit  which  can  be  communicated  to 
a  creature.  And  inasmuch  as  the  spirit  in  man  is  capa- 
ble of  infinite  and  eternal  expansion,  he  bears  no  dim 
traces  of  those  infinite  attributes  which  belong  only  to 
God.  Through  the  endless  ages  of  eternity,  he  will  be 
forever  approaching  the  infinite,  outstripping  all  present 


200  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

angelic  glory,  and  the  "rapt  seraph  that  bums  and 
adores"  before  the  very  throne  of  God. 

2.  The  spirit  in  man  !  Here  is  the  true  measure  of  its 
dignity  and  grandeur,  and  the  magnitude  of  its  spiritual 
wants : 

Man's  arts  and  inventions;  his  scientific  and  philo- 
sophic achievements ;  his  wisdom,  penetrating  the  se- 
crets of  the  telescopic  and  microscopic  universe ;  his 
power,  controlling  and  mastering  the  tremendous  forces 
of  nature,  chaining  the  lightning,  harnessing  the  steam, 
and  making  the  winds  and  the  waves  to  obey  him,  are 
but  dim  prophecies  and  shadowy  intimations  of  the 
glorious  possibilities  of  eternity,  when  our  perfected  and 
enlarged  and  ever- expanding  faculties  shall  work  without 
let  or  hindrance,  in  a  sphere  that  is  unlimited,  in  a  light 
that  is  clear  and  cloudless,  and  overflow  with  the  ever- 
lasting influx  of  infinite  wisdom,  perfect  holiness,  and 
boundless  love. 

O  brethren !  what  must  be  the  wants  of  such  a 
being,  so  allied  to  the  infinite,  eternal,  and  ever-blessed 
God,  reflecting  his  divine  attributes,  and  capable  of  being 
filled  with  all  his  communicable  fulness  !  Created  in  the 
likeness  of  God,  can  the  spirit  in  man  find  anything 
outside  of  its  Maker  to  suit  its  god-like  capacities  ?  All 
our  faculties  turn  to  God  as  their  ultimate  end,  and  find 
in  him  their  highest  activity,  their  complete  develop- 
ment, and  their  full  satisfaction.  Matter  and  spirit  have 
nothing  in  common.  Earthly  things  are  material  and 
have  no  affinity  for  the  soul.  They  are  only  instruments 
and  occasions  of  the  soul's  felicity. 

Our  lower  nature  has  affinities  for  material  things. 
God  has  given  us  a  nature  that  responds  to  the  beautiful 
in  the  physical  world,  and  to  the  pleasures  of  wealth, 
honor,  learning,  and  social  relationships.     These  lower 


MAN  INSPIRED  OF  GOD.  20I 

objects  were  made  to  be  loved,  and  only  as  they  are  loved 
and  enjoyed,  according  to  their  nature  and  design,  can 
we  fulfil  the  end  of  our  being,  and  glorify  our  Maker. 
But  God,  himself,  must  ever  be  the  supreme  Portion  of 
the  soul.  The  spirit  in  man  must  hold  communion  with 
the  infinite  Spirit.  The  sweet  and  blissful  amenities  of 
human  society  can  never  satisf}^  a  capacity  for  love  God 
made  for  himself  to  fill.  Again,  man  has  a  capacity  for 
knowledge,  which  the  knowledge  of  all  created  beings 
and  of  the  whole  created  universe  could  not  satisfy.  He 
has,  also,  capacious  activities  which  find  an  adequate 
scope  for  their  development  and  exercise  only  in  the 
service  of  an  infinite  being.  Virtue  is  indeed  its  own 
reward,  and  there  is  a  pleasure  in  holy  energies.  There 
is  a  delight  that  flows  from  a  mere  sense  of  duty.  The 
self-denials  and  sacrifices  we  make  in  the  service  of 
others  is  attended  with  a  high  and  noble  joy.  But  not 
until  we  recognize  our  relations  to  God,  and  lealize  that 
we  are  doing  his  will  and  accomplishing  his  purposes, 
do  our  faculties  reach  their  highest  limit  of  power,  and 
the  fountain  of  our  joy  touch  the  skies. 

I.  In  the  light  of  this  subject,  we  see  wherein  consists 
the  essential  misery  of  our  fallen  state.  Said  an  old 
divine,  "The  fall  of  man  was  the  departure  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  from  him."  Disobedience  broke  the  communion 
between  the  '  *  spirit  in  man ' '  and  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  and 
though  the  Holy  Spirit  continues  to  exercise  his  creating, 
sustaining,  and  controlling  agency,  he  no  longer  dwells 
in  the  unrenewed  soul,  as  the  source  and  inspiration  of 
its  life.  '*  To  be  severed  eternally  from  God's  inspira- 
tion," says  Dr.  Bushnell,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
some  thoughts  of  this  discourse,  '*  is  enough,  as  we  are 
constituted,  to  seal  our  complete  misery.  What  is  called 
hell  in  the  Scripture  is  the  world  of  misery  constituted 


202  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

by  the  complete  absence  of  Ood.  It  is  the  outer  dark- 
ness because  it  is  that  night  of  the  mind  which  overtakes 
it  when  it  strays  from  God  and  his  Hght. ' ' 

Dear  brethren,  does  not  this  account  for  all  the  misery 
of  this  life ;  for  the  mysterious  sadness  of  those  who  are 
' '  smothering  their  affinities  for  God  '  ' ;  for  the  ' '  sublime 
unhappiness  ' '  of  great  souls  whose  spiritual  faculties 
are  closed  against  the  inspirations  of  God ;  for  the  rest- 
less undercurrent  of  dissatisfaction,  when  the  sea  is  calm, 
the  sky  clear  and  cloudless,  and  favoring  breezes  fill 
the  swelling  sails  ;  for  the  feverish  excitement  of  men  of 
business ;  for  the  intoxicating  mirth  of  the  votaries  of 
pleasure  ;  for  the  mad  ambition  that  never  rests  so  long 
as  there  is  another  height  to  gain  ;  for  the  sickening  dis- 
gust with  earthly  vanities ;  for  the  corroding  cares,  the 
gnawing  envies,  the  burning  jealousies?  There  are  so 
many  ways  the  hungry,  famishing  soul  has  of  saying  it 
is  not  satisfied  without  God. 

2.  Again,  we  see  the  true  glory  of  the  gospel.  The 
curse  of  sin  is  lifted  from  the  guilty  conscience,  and  the 
broken  law,  that  the  redeemed  and  regenerated  soul  may 
be  brought  into  living,  conscious  relations  to  God,  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  may  return  to  his  deserted  habitation, 
and  abide  with  us  as  the  source  and  inspiration  of  all  our 
energies.  An  unpardoned  soul  cannot  be  inspired  by 
God ;  therefore  it  must  be  redeemed.  A  soul  that  does 
not  love  holiness  cannot  receive  divine  inspiration  ;  there- 
fore it  must  be  '  *  born  again. ' '  In  Christ  we  are  restored 
to  our  relation  to  God  as  justified  sinners.  In  Christ  we 
receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  with  him  the 
restoration  of  the  lost  image  of  God  ;  and  as  the  work  of 
sanctification  progresses,  all  our  faculties  are  opened, 
more  and  more,  to  the  inspirations  of  God. 

How  unreasonable  and  utterly  vain  are  all  our  efforts- 


MAN  INSPIRED  OF  GOD.  203 

at  self-restoration  !  All  our  works  are  dead  works,  until 
our  spiritual  life  is  restored.  If  we  are  constitutionally 
related  to  God,  and  made  to  live  in  his  inspiration,  then 
we  must  live  as  we  are  made  to  live,  if  we  will  be  happy, 
and  this  inspiration  extends  to  the  humblest  duties  of 
life.  He  who  "abides  in  his  calling  with  God,"  will 
find  God  abiding  with  him,  inspiring  him  to  do  all  things 
rightly  and  wisely.  Thus  the  whole  ** spirit  in  man" 
becomes  like  an  instrument  of  music,  filled  with  the 
breath  of  God,  and  whether  we  press  the  higher  or  the 
lower  keys  the  music  is  all  divine. 


''HOW  LONG  HALT  YE  BETWEEN  TWO 

OPINIONS?" 

BY  REV.  J.    R.   BURGETT,  D.   D., 

Pastor  of  the  Govern7nent- Street  Presbyterian  Church,  Mobile 

Alabama, 


"And  Elijah  came  unto  all  the  people,  and  said,  How  long- 
halt  ye  between  two  opinions?  if  the  Lord  be  God,  follow  him: 
but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him.  And  the  people  answered  him  not 
a  word." — i   Kings  xviii.  21. 

IT  has  often  been  remarked  that  they  who  have  been 
most  successful  in  their  efforts,  and  who  have  acquired 
greatest  eminence  in  any  particular  department  of  life, 
have  been  men  of  one  idea.  By  this  is  meant  that  the 
purpose,  which  they  were  seeking  to  accomplish,  was 
always  before  their  minds,  absorbing  and  enlisting  all 
their  thoughts  and  energies.  Their  attention  was  not 
directed  to  a  multiplicity  of  objects,  which  could  not  but 
tend  to  confusion  of  thoughts  and  waste  of  strength.  On 
the  contrary,  they  labored  with  an  eye  single  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  some  one  thing,  which  was  most  dear 
to  their  hearts.  This  is  what  may  be  called  living  and 
acting  with  singleness  of  aim  or  purpose.  The  man  of 
wealth  ;  the  man  of  high  attainments  in  scholarship ;  the 
man  of  honors,  whether  political  or  military  ;  the  man  of 
eminence  in  art  or  science  all  alike  have  won  their  way 
to  such  celebrity  and  renown,  by  adopting  this  principle 
and  giving  constant  and  exclusive  attention  to  the  direc- 
tion of  their  aim,  the  accomplishment  of  their  purpose. 
A  hundred  such  could  be  named,  who,  on  the  pages  of 

204 


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HOW  LONG  HALT  YE  BETWEEN  TWO  OPINIONS?    205 

history,  stand  out  foremost  in  their  chosen  spheres  of 
action.  Newton,  Bacon,  Locke,  Humboldt,  in  science 
or  metaphysics ;  Luther,  Calvin,  Wesley,  Whitfield,  in 
theological  attainments,  and  preaching  ability  and  power ; 
Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun,  William  Pitt,  in  statesmanship; 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  and  others,  both  ancient  and  modern, 
in  military  science,  illustrate  the  great  advantage  of  sin- 
gleness of  aim  in  the  pursuit  of  any  object.  In  fact,  it  is 
what  is  sometimes  called  ' '  decision  of  character ' '  ;  and 
our  text,  with  its  context,  is  intended  to  enforce  the  les- 
son of  its  necessity  and  importance. 

The  metaphor  *  *  halting ' '  is  taken  from  the  unequal 
walk  of  a  lame  person,  who  is  sometimes  fast,  and  some- 
times slow;  sometimes  on  one  side  of  the  way,  and 
sometimes  on  the  other.  To  a  spectator  it  is  uncertain 
whether  he  will  persevere  to  the  end  of  his  journey  or 
leave  the  path  with  the  vain  hope  of  finding  one  that  is 
easier  and  better.  No  reliance  can  be  placed  in  such  a 
person  as  to  the  object  or  purpose  for  which  he  sets  out. 
Now  what  is  thus  true  in  the  physical  is  equally  true  in 
the  moral  and  religious  world.  Multitudes  fail  of  the 
success  they  desire,  and  come  short  of  the  enjoyment 
they  would  otherwise  experience,  just  because  they  are 
vague,  uncertain  and  vacillating  in  their  aims  and  efforts. 

This  was  the  conduct  of  the  Israelites  in  their  relations 
to  God  and  the  duties  growing  out  of  them.  They 
wavered  in  opinion  and  varied  in  practice,  sometimes 
worshipping  Jehovah,  and  at  other  times  worshipping 
Baal,  just  as  their  convictions  or  interests  prevailed. 
They  sought  to  make  a  compromise  between  the  two, 
and  to  mingle  their  worship  so  as  to  accommodate  both 
flesh  and  spirit.  Baal's  prophets  would,  in  all  proba- 
bility, have  yielded  very  readily  to  such  a  plan,  but  they 
could  never  have  gained  God's  consent,  for  he  rejects  in 


206  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

toto  all  worship  or  service  which  does  not  exalt  him  as 
supreme  in  the  heart.  F^lijah,  therefore,  in  a  spirit  of  the 
most  scathing  rebuke,  condemned  their  unmanly  and 
wavering  conduct:  ''How  long  halt  ye  betwee^i  two 
opinions?''  he  demands — thus  placing  before  their 
minds,  by  a  metaphor  which  they  all  understood,  the 
contemptible  manner  of  their  walk  before  God,  and  the 
wicked  folly  of  persisting  in  it.  Then  he  called  upon 
them  without  further  delay  to  determine  whether  of  the 
two  was  the  self-existent  and  eternal  God,  the  Creator, 
Governor  and  Judge  of  the  world ;  and  to  follow  him  alone. 
They  were  to  consider  diligently  the  proofs  and  argu- 
ments respectively  by  which  the  claims  of  God  and  Baal 
were  sought  to  be  established  ;  determine  on  which  side 
was  the  stronger  claim,  the  preponderance  of  proof;  and 
show  at  once  by  their  action  that  they  submitted  to  its 
convincing  power.  If  the  Lord  was  God,  they  were  to 
follow  him  alone ;  or,  if  Baal,  then  they  were  to  follow 
him.  What  he  demanded  was  that  they  must  be  wholly 
on  one  side  or  the  other,  and  must  persevere  as  thus  they 
decided  so  as  to  be  harrassed  by  no  conflicting  doubts. 

Let  us  attend  to  the  lessons  which  these  words  sug- 
gest, and  try  to  profit  by  them  : 

1.  There  are  three  classes  of  persons  who  are  not 
included  among  those  thus  addressed;  who  are  not 
to  be  regarded  as  "halting  between  two  opinions,"  or 
undecided  on  the  subject  of  religion.  One  is  the  openly 
skeptical  and  profane,  who  bear  the  mark  of  the  beast ; 
who  make  no  pretensions  to  religion,  but  have  made  up 
their  minds  to  reject  it  as  a  foolish  superstition  unworthy 
of  belief ;  and  many  of  whom  hate  it,  oppose  it  and  per- 
secute it. 

Another  class  is  the  decidedly  sincere,  some  of  whom 
are   very    zealous,    useful   and    spiritually   strong;    and 


HOW  LONG  HALT  YE  BETWEEN  TWO  OPINIONS?     20J 

others  of  whom  are  weak  and  feeble,  but  fully  decided  as 
followers  of  Christ,  and  so  positive  in  their  convictions 
that  no  one  can  doubt  as  to  where  they  belong.  Sin- 
cerity is  the  test;  and  where  such  aim  at  loving  and 
serving  the  Lord  in  truth,  the  Lord*bwns  and  blesses 
them  as  his  people. 

The  third  class  are  those  who  are  in  an  awakened  con- 
dition, and  earnestly  seeking  the  Lord;  whose  faces  are 
turned  Zionward,  and  longing  to  be  consciously  within 
its  gates  and  among  the  true  and  accepted  worshippers 
of  God;  who  are  actually  standing  in  the  way,  and 
inquiring  for  the  good  old  paths,  and  ready  to  walk  as 
they  may  be  divinely  directed.  They  are  like  the  Philip- 
pian  jailer,  who,  under  deep  conviction  and  longing  for 
the  peace  and  rest  which  conscious  forgiveness  gives  ^ 
cried  out :   '  *  Sirs,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  ' ' 

None  of  these  three  classes  are  among  the  undecided  \ 
those  who  are  halting  between  two  opinions.  The  skep- 
tical and  profane  blasphemer  of  God,  of  the  Bible,  of  the 
plan  of  redemption  as  there  revealed  in  and  through  Christ 
Jesus,  and  of  all  sacred  institutions,  have  made  their 
choice,  and  are  so  wedded  to  it  in  word  and  act  that  there 
is  no  mistaking  where  they  belong,  or  as  to  their  attitude 
toward  the  Christian  religion.  The  decidedly  sincere  of 
all  grades  are  equally  positive  in  their  choice  of  God, 
Christ  and  the  great  salvation  on  the  terms  offered ;  and 
utter  no  uncertain  sound  in  giving  their  testimony. 
Those  who,  under  the  influence  and  guidance  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  are  seeking  to  be  saved  in  God's  own  way, 
are  ready  as  soon  as  they  see  and  know  what  that  way 
is,  to  accept  and  walk  in  it  as  the  only  way.  They  seek 
the  Lord  not  with  a  divided  but  whole  heart ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  divine  promise,  they  will  therefore  surely  find 
him. 


20S  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

2.  The  undecided,  or  such  as  "halt  between  two 
opinions,"  may  be  divided  into  four  or  five  classes. 
There  are  those,  for  instance,  who  are  among  the  people 
of  God  and  class  themselves  with  them,  but  who  are  not 
of  them.  Some  are  there  merely  through  the  influence 
of  education  ;  others  from  the  fears  of  conscience,  which 
will  not  allow  them  to  neglect  the  church  and  its  ordi- 
nances. Yet  all  such  are  only  hearers,  and  not  doers  of 
the  word.  They  do  not  hunger  and  thirst  after  spiritual 
things,  but  are  afraid  to  wholly  neglect  or  cast  them 
aside ;  and  thus  they  are  ' '  halting  between  two  opinions. ' ' 
There  are  those,  also,  who  avoid  open  impiety,  and  yet  do 
not  sincerely  and  with  their  hearts  serve  God.  They 
would  be  horrified  at  the  very  idea  of  being  notoriously 
wicked ;  and  yet  God  is  not  at  all  in  their  hearts.  They 
are  not  at  all  spiritually  minded ;  and  they  have  never 
really  felt  their  sins  to  be  a  heavy  burden,  from  which 
they  would  gladly  be  delivered.  There  are  those,  also, 
who  try  hard  to  unite  the  world  and  the  church,  to  wor- 
ship both  God  and  mammon.  They  call  themselves 
industrious,  prudent,  and  sociable ;  but  the  truth  is  their 
hearts  are  exclusively  and  idolatrously  set  on  the  world 
in  all  its  variously  attractive  forms  and  phases,  such  as 
are  calculated  to  fascinate  and  please  the  natural,  unre- 
newed man.  They  are  covetous,  and  pleasure-seekers. 
They  love  gold,  and  are  intent  upon  the  accumulation  of 
wealth  for  its  own  sake  and  for  what  it  can  do  in  gratify- 
ing their  selfish  aims  and  desires.  They  love  amuse- 
ment for  its  own  sake,  and  hunt  for  and  enjoy  it  as  one 
of  their  chief  occupations  in  life.  But  along  with  all  this, 
they  wish  to  be  found  in  the  company  of  the  sincerely 
devout  and  pious,  and  to  be  classed  with  Christians ; 
because.,  as  they  think,  their  temporal  respectability  and 
standing  will  give  them  influence  in  the  church. 


HOW  LONG  HALT  YE  BETWEEN  TWO  OPINIONS?    209 

Then,  again,  there  are  those  who  labor  to  unite  works 
and  grace,  in  effecting  their  salvation.  They  do  not 
fully  trust  in  either,  but  in  both  partially,  and  therefore 
come  short  of  fully  realizing  that  salvation  which  comes 
through  Jesus  Christ  only,  and  by  an  exclusive  trusting 
in  and  resting  upon  his  all-sufi&cient  righteousness. 
There  is  still  another  class  of  the  undecided,  the  halters 
between  two  opinions,  whom  I  ought  to  mention.  They 
are  those  who  would  privately  but  not  publicly  profess 
Christ.  They  fear  the  cross  connected  with  a  public 
profession ;  the  ridicule,  reproach,  scorn,  and  trials  of 
many  kinds  which  are  apt  to  follow.  They  fear  being 
laughed  at  by  their  old  associates ;  and  pointed  out  and 
spoken  of,  in  a  spirit  of  ridicule,  as  having  become 
pious,  etc.  They  fear  the  power  of  temptation,  and  that 
they  will  not  be  able  successfully  to  hold  out  against  it ; 
and  so  they  decline  a  public  profession  of  religion, 
and  hold  on  to  Christ  i7i  private,  so  as  really  to  be  at 
liberty  to  yield  to  temptation  and  enjoy  forbiddeyi  indul- 
gences without  being  called  to  account  publicly  and 
charged  with  inconsistency.  What  is  this  but  parleying 
with  the  tempter,  and  giving  him  an  advantage  in  the 
fact  of  fheir  feeling  a  lessened  responsibility,  by  not 
making  a  public  confession  of  Christ?  And,  besides, 
such  a  disposition  makes  it  evident  that  they  are  not 
sincere;  else  they  would  know  that  none  of  us  have 
sufficiency  in  ourselves  to  withstand  the  tempter,  and 
that  our  sufficiency  is  in  Christ,  who  is  always  ready  to 
help  and  strengthen  those  who  look  to  and  lean  trust- 
ingly on  him.  There  are  and  can  be  no  silent  partners 
in  Christ's  firm. 

It  is  stated  that  a  minister  in  Brooklyn,  New  York, 
was  once  called  on  by  a  business  man,   who  .said:   *'I 
come,  sir,  to  inquire  if  Jesus  Christ  will  take  me  into  the 
14 


2IO  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

concern  as  a  silc7it  partner. "  "  Why  do  you  ask  ?  "  re- 
plied the  minister.  "Because,"  said  he,  "I  wish  to  be 
a  member  ;  and  do  not  wish  anybody  to  know  it. ' '  The 
minister's  reply  was  :  "Christ  takes  no  silent  partners. 
The  firm  must  be  Jesus  Christ  &  Co.  ;  and  the  names 
of  the  compajiy,  though  they  may  occupy  a  subordinate 
place,  must  all  be  written  out  on  the  sign-board."  Now 
all  these,  and  such  as  these,  are  "halting  between  two 
opinions  ' '  ;  and  to  them  is  addressed,  by  way  of  rebuke, 
the  sharp  and  cutting  inquiry  of  the  text.  It  is  all  the 
more  pungent  and  awakening,  because,  in  the  face  of 
accumulative,  convincing  evidence  of  the  superior  claims 
of  the  Christian  religion  as  regards  its  nature  and  origin, 
its  influence  and  advantages  both  for  time  and  eternity, 
they  are  without  excuse  and  all  the  more  guilty,  if  they 
do  not  with  positive  conviction  and  resolute  determina- 
tion accept  it  as  their  life  religion,  and  by  faith  and  prac- 
tice hold  fast  to  it  under  all  circumstances  and  until  they 
reach  and  wear  the  promised  crown. 

3 .  This  leads  me  to  remark  that  God  has  wonderfully  con- 
descended to  establish  by  the  most  undoubted  proofs  those 
truths  which  concern  himself;  and  which,  in  their  practical 
application,  will  secure  our  present  and  eternal  happiness. 
Elijah,  although  alone  and  single-handed,  nevertheless 
challenged  the  four  hundred  and  fifty  prophets  of  Baal 
to  make  trial  with  him  as  to  which  was  the  true  God. 
His  proposal  was  so  reasonable  that  the  people  at  once 
agreed  to  it;  and,  therefore,  Baal's  prophets  were  left  to 
the  alternative  of  either  complying  with  it,  or  of  admit- 
ting that  their  God  was  a  dumb  and  impotent  idol.  They 
agreed  to  the  proposal ;  and  consented  that  he  who 
should  answer  by  fire,  in  consuming  the  sacrifice  offered 
him,  should  be  regarded  as  the  true  God,  and  worthy  of 
supreme  and  exclusive  worship  and  adoration.     In  this 


HOW  LONG  HALT  YE  BETWEEN  TWO  OPINIONS?    211 

trial  Elijah  conceded  the  preference,  in  every  external 
circumstance,  to  the  false  prophets.  He  gave  them 
every  outward  advantage,  in  order  that  his  victory  might 
be  the  more  noticeable  and  complete,  and  that  Jehovah, 
the  true  God,  might  receive  greater  honor.  He  there- 
fore dug  a  trench  about  the  altar,  and  filled  it  with  water. 
He  also  poured  a  great  quantity  of  water  upon  the  altar, 
upon  the  sacrifice  and  upon  the  wood,  with  the  view, 
doubtless,  of  avoiding  all  possible  suspicion  that  any 
fire  had  been  concealed.  This  would  make  the  divine 
interposition  more  illustrious  and  convincing.  When 
everything  was  ready,  and  the  prophet  had  invoked  the 
divine  presence  so  as  to  make  good  the  claim  that  he 
was  God  alone,  and  to  turn  back  again  to  himself  the 
hearts  of  his  astray ed  people,  then  the  fire  of  the  Lord 
fell  and  consumed  the  burnt  sacri^ce,  the  wood,  the 
stones,  the  dust,  and  licked  up  the  water  that  was  in  the 
trench.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  convincing ;  and 
the  people,  therefore,  prostrated  themselves  before  God 
with  mingled  feelings  of  terror  and  reverence. 

Thus  did  God  condescend  to  prove  to  his  ancient  and 
misguided  people  his  claims  as  the  true  and  self-existent 
Jehovah,  who  alone  is  entitled  to  the  exclusive  worship 
of  all  his  creatures.  To  have  hesitated  after  that,  and 
still  to  have  withheld  from  him  their  exclusive  service, 
would  have  been  indeed  a  most  wicked  and  obstinate 
rebellion. 

Now  the  same  condescension  is  still  shown  in  furnish- 
ing proofs  that  ought  to  be  equally  convincing,  not  only 
of  his  existence,  but  also  of  the  revelation  he  has  made 
in  the  sacred  Scriptures  to  man  as  a  spiritual  and  immortal 
being,  and  of  the  divine  origin  of  those  doctrines  of 
grace  and  salvation  which  are  suited  to  his  condition  as 
a  sinner. 


212  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN    PULPIT. 

But  I  address  myself  particularly  to  those  who  are  not 
skeptical,  and  would  scorn  to  be  classed  among  infidels, 
atheists,  and  blasphemers  of  sacred  things.  I  take  it 
for  granted  that  you  are  convinced  that  there  is  an 
all-wise,  intelligent,  self-existent  being  called  God,  who 
created,  governs  and  controls  all  things,  both  animate 
and  inanimate. 

You  instinctively  feel  that  there  is  such  a  being ;  and, 
therefore,  you  involuntarily  cry  to  him  for  help  when  in 
great  straits.  You  know  that  everywhere  and  among 
all  tribes  and  nations  this  feeling  or  opinion  prevails ; 
and  that,  therefore,  they  appeal  to  and  worship  what 
they  call  God,  whether  true  or  false.  This  must  be 
either  from  the  fact  that  the  idea  of  God  is  innate,  born 
in  us ;  or  that  this  truth  is  so  very  obvious  that  it  is  dis- 
covered by  the  very -first  exertion  of  reason  in  persons  of 
the  most  ordinary  capacities  ;  or  that  it  has  been  handed 
down  from  the  first  man  by  tradition  through  all  the 
ages.  You  know  that  as  the  beautiful  landscape  could 
not  be  put  on  canvas  by  pencil  or  brush  without  the 
guiding  hand  of  a  skilful  artist;  that  as  the  machine, 
which  is  intelligently  constructed  for  the  accomplishment 
of  a  particular  purpose,  could  not  have  come  into  exist- 
ence without  a  designer  and  artificer ;  that  as  no  build- 
ing of  any  sort,  great  or  small,  and  exactly  suited  to  its 
aim,  could  have  come  together  in  all  its  wise  arrange- 
ments by  chance,  but  must  have  been  the  work  of  an 
intelligent,  independent  thinker  and  designer;  so  the 
universe  with  its  wonders,  our  world  with  its  adapta- 
tions to  our  use,  its  order,  variety,  and  beauty,  could 
not  have  merely  happened  thus,  or  come  into  existence 
without  the  agency  of  an  all-wise  Creator,  who  could 
think,  and  plan,  and  execute.  You  know  all  this;  and 
are,    therefore,    convinced    that   there    must   be   a  self- 


HOW  LONG  HALT  YE  BETWEEN  TWO  OPINIONS?    II 3 

existent  and  eternal  being,  with  infinite  wisdom  and 
capabilities,  whom  we  call  God. 

You  admit  the  fact  that  as  God's  creatures,  the  work 
of  his  hands,  we  belong  to  him  for  his  service  and 
honor;  that  the  ability  he  has  given,  the  powers  with 
which  he  has  endowed  us,  are  to  be  exercised  and  used 
as  he  originally  intended ;  and  that  he  holds  us,  as  intelli- 
gent beings  who  are  capable  of  choice,  accountable  for 
what  we  do  in  the  matter.  He  is  our  Creator,  and  we 
his  creatures,  who  owe  him  all  the  service  we  are  made 
to  give,  just  as  man's  inventions  and  productions  are 
intended  for  his  service.  He  is  our  Ruler,  our  Sov- 
ereign, and  we  his  subjects,  whose  duty  it  is  to  obey; 
just  as  in  civil  government  the  citizen  is  expected  to  be 
in  subjection  to  those  in  authority.  If  we  fail  in  ren- 
dering due  service  to  God  as  our  Creator,  or  proper 
obedience  to  him  as  our  Sovereign,  then  we  incur  his 
displeasure,  and  are  exposed  to  the  penalty. 

You  are  ready  to  acknowledge,  at  least  theoretically, 
if  not  practically,  that  all  mankind,  and  you  yourselves 
included,  have  come  sadly  short  of  such  justly-expected 
and  rightly-required  service  and  obedience.  You  have 
come  short  in  thought,  word  and  act ;  and  you  know  it 
well,  and  would  feel  it  most  keenly  if  you  would  only 
thoughtfully  and  pra3^erfully  consider  the  matter  in  all 
its  bearings ;  in  the  light  of  Scripture,  reason,  observa- 
tion, and  history.  In  the  sight  of  God  you  are  trans- 
gressors of  his  law,  rebels  against  his  authority,  and 
acting  contrary  to  his  holy  and  righteous  will,  and 
against  your  own  truest  and  best  interests,  both  for  time 
and  eternity.  The  Scriptures  plainly  declare  this ;  and 
your  own  conscience  confirms  it.  You  are  then  guilty 
before  God,  exposed  to  the  penalty,  and  already  con- 
demned. 


214  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

You  know  that  you  have  not  the  ability  and  cannot, 
through  your  own  sufficiency,  escape  from  under  this 
sentence  of  condemnation.  Your  kindly,  honest,  and 
upright  dealings  with  your  fellow-men  will  not  be  a  suf- 
ficient covering  of  your  guilt  from  God's  judicial  eye. 
Such  righteousness  may  be  good  currency  among  men, 
and  helpful  in  social  life,  but  God  will  not  accept  it  in 
exchange  for  his  pardoning  favor  and  the  gift  of  eternal 
life.  By  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no  flesh  be  justified 
before  God  ;  and,  in  his  sight,  all  our  righteousnesses  are 
as  filthy  rags.  The  laws  of  men  are  not  our  rule  in  the 
matter  of  salvation.  Simply  to  obey  them  and  nothing 
more  is  too  narrow  and  short  to  commend  us  to  God. 
Men  make  laws,  just  as  tailors  make  garments  to  fit  the 
crooked  bodies  of  those  they  serve.  In  making  laws, 
men  try  to  suit  the  humors  or  whims  of  the  people  who 
are  to  be  thus  governed ;  but  surely  such  laws  are  not 
sufficient  to  convince  us  of  sin  and  to  lead  us  in  the  way 
of  true  happiness.  It  is  God's  own  prerogative  to  give 
a  law  to  the  conscience,  and  to  the  renewed  motions  of 
the  heart.  Human  laws  are  good  to  establish  proper 
converse  with  man,  but  they  are  too  short  and  insufficient 
to  establish  proper  converse  with  God ;  and,  therefore, 
we  must  consult  that  rule  which  is  the  law  of  the  Lord, 
that  we  may  not  come  short  of  true  blessedness.  But 
God's  law  enjoins  more  than  man  in  his  morally  weak 
and  depraved  state  can  accomplish ;  and  when  he  seri- 
ously attempts  to  conform  his  life  in  thought,  speech, 
and  act  to  all  its  precepts,  so  as  to  be  perfect  in  every 
respect,  and  satisfy  God  as  well  as  his  own  conscience, 
he  cannot  but  feel  that  he  has  made  an  utter  failure,  and 
come  far  short  of  what  is  required.  He  then  turns  long- 
ingly to  God  for  light  and  for  the  help  he  needs,  in  his 
ignorance  and  helplessness.      "Oh,  that  I  knew  where  I 


HOW  LONG  HALT  YE  BETWEEN  TWO  OPINIONS?    21 5 

might  find  him  "  is  his  earnest,  impassioned  cry.  And 
this  suggests  another  very  important  fact,  which  you 
know,  and  that  is,  that  God,  who  is  love  itself,  and 
whose  loving  nature  reaches  out  mercifully,  wisely,  and 
justly  to  all  his  creatures,  especially  to  those  created  in  his 
own  image,  responded  to  that  earnest  cry  for  help  which 
only  he  can  give.  He  has  responded  by  giving  them 
his  only  begotten  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  able  to  save 
to  the  uttermost  all  who  come  unto  God  by  him ;  who 
has  done  all  that  was  needed  to  be  done  to  remove  every 
hindrance  and  open  up  for  them  completely  the  way  of 
salvation ;  and  who,  as  their  surety  and  substitute,  met 
every  legal  demand  and  paid  all  their  debts .  In  his  twofold 
person  as  God-man  he  was  abundantly  qualified  for  such 
a  work,  and  triumphantly  finished  it  to  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  redemption  and  salvation  of  all  true  believers. 
He  is,  therefore,  what  man,  in  the  consciousness  of  his 
guilt  and  helplessness,  longs  for — the  mighty  Saviour. 

You  know  and  acknowledge  all  this,  because  in  the 
Bible  you  have  God's  own  inspired  word,  a  special 
revelation  from  him,  which  comes  to  you  in  language 
and  form  so  thoroughly  human  as  to  be  suited  to  every 
capacity.  It  gives  in  a  way  that  all  who  are  accountable 
can  readily  understand  all  that  they  need  to  know  for 
their  salvation.  It  is  all  there,  not  mathematics,  nor 
scientific  lore,  but  what  is  able,  through  God's  blessing, 
to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation.  The  Bible  was  not 
intended  to  be  a  teacher  of  secular  knowledge,  or  an  ex- 
positor of  the  laws  which  govern  the  material  universe. 
These  things  it  refers  to  only  incidentally  and  by  way  of 
illustration ;  and  then  it  is  usually  according  to  com- 
monly received  and  prevailing  opinions  on  these  subjects, 
so  as  to  adapt  its  religious  teachings  the  better  to  the 
people.     Thus  while  it  is  thoroughly  inspired  and  divine, 


2l6  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

it  is,  at  the  same  time,  an  intensely  human  book.  Novr 
since  man  needed  just  such  a  revelation,  is  it  not  at  least 
probable  that  God  would  give  it,  and  give  it,  too,  in  this 
very  shape?  It  was  love  and  mercy  that  prompted  him 
to  give  us  a  special  revelation,  and  to  adapt  it  thus  wisely 
to  our  condition,  so  as  to  be  within  our  ready  compre- 
hension. Moreover,  that  the  Bible  is  really  God's  word, 
his  revelation  to  men  of  how  they  are  to  be  saved  from 
guilt  and  sin,  is  made  evident  from  its  own  claim,  its 
own  testimon}^  I  need  not  particularize  here,  because 
if  you  are  a  reader  of  it  you  cannot  but  see  that  such  is 
its  claim.  But  aside  from  its  own  testimony,  the  evi- 
dence both  intef?ial  and  exter?ial  is  cuin^dative.  Its  ful- 
filled prophecies  and  its  recorded  miracles  are  credentials 
to  show  that  it  is  God  who  speaks.  The  frank  and 
candid  way  in  which  its  inspired  writers  speak  of  their 
own  faults,  and  those  of  God's  people,  shows  that  it  is  a 
book  which  aims  at  the  truth.  The  fact  that  it  is 
composed  of  so  many  books,  written  by  so  many  persons 
varying  in  culture,  style,  and  surroundings,  and  stretch- 
ing through  many  centuries ;  and  that  yet  with  it  all 
there  is  such  a  remarkable  oneness  of  spirit  and  aim, 
shows  that  they  must  have  been  under  the  guidance  and 
control  of  a  divine  agency,  such  as  the  book  itself  claims. 
The  loftiness  of  its  teachings,  the  grandeur  of  the  char- 
acters it  has  helped  to  fashion,  and  the  comforts  and 
even  joy  it  imparts  to  the  sorrowing  and  suffering,  show 
that  it  is  more  than  a  mere  human  production,  and  must 
be  from  him  who  is  the  source  of  all  true  consolation. 
The  testimony  of  experience,  from  those  who  have  re- 
ceived its  teachings  and  acted  upon  them,  who  have 
tasted  of  this  good  word  of  God,  and  seen  that  it  is  all  it 
claims  ;  and  who,  like  the  blind  man  with  sight  restored 
by    Jesus,    can    say,     "Whereas    I   was    blind,    now   I 


HOW  LONG  HALT  YE  BETWEEN  TWO  OPINIONS?    217 

see,"  is  a  proof  of  its  lofty  claim,  and  shows  that  it  can 
be  relied  on  to  do  what  it  promises.  Now  these,  and 
more  which  might  be  given,  are  powerful  proofs  that 
the  Bible  is  God's  word;  his  revelation  to  man,  as  a 
spiritual  and  immortal  being,  of  what  can  be  learned 
nowhere  else;  how  he  may  be  saved  and  eternally 
blessed;  how  God  can  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  the 
ungodly. 

All  this  you  know  and  acknowledge  ;  for  it  is  not  the 
skeptical  I  am  addressing.  You  believe  in  God  ;  in  the 
immortality  of  our  souls  ;  in  our  personal  accountability 
as  God's  creatures  and  subjects;  in  the  fact  that  we 
have  sinned  and  incurred  his  displeasure,  and  are,  there- 
fore, under  condemnation ;  in  our  own  insufficiency  and 
helplessness  to  effect  a  deliverance;  in  the  Bible  as 
God's  special  revelation  of  what  we  need,  and  how  we 
can  be  delivered  and  saved ;  in  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  there  made  known  and  offered  to  us  freely  as  the 
divinely-appointed  and  infinitely-sufficient  Saviour;  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life;  the  only  way  through 
which  we  can  come  into  the  reconciled  presence  of  God 
the  Father,  and  finally  reach  heaven ;  you  have  an  intel- 
lectual belief  in  all  this,  for  you  accept  and  are  convinced 
by  the  evidence  that  it  is  all  true. 

But  now,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?  What 
do  you  propose  to  do  about  it  to-day?  What  do  you 
really  think  is  your  present  duty  to  God  in  Christ,  and 
to  yourselves  in  view  of  all  that  has  been  done  in  divine 
love  for  your  spiritual  welfare  ?  Will  you  still,  and  for  an 
indefinite  period,  be  contented  with  this  mere  intellectual 
believing  ;  with  merely  believing  these  facts,  and  go  no 
further?  Will  you  halt  right  there,  and  while  leaning 
with  the  intellect  toward  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  his  lov- 
ing, unspeakable  gift,  and  the  great  salvation  thus  pro- 


2l8  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

vided,  be  at  the  same  time  leaning  toward  the  world 
with  the  heart,  and  actually  preferring  it  to  what  you 
cannot  but  know  is  your  greatest  good  ?  Will  it  be  for 
your  honor  and  safety  to  be  thus  two-faced,  double- 
minded,  reaching  out  in  opposite  directions ;  wavering 
between  God  and  the  world  ?  Do  you  not  know  that  to 
waver  thus  between  duty  and  the  world  contrary  to  your 
own  convictions  of  God,  and  to  refuse  all  persuasion  to 
resolve  and  be  decided  one  way  or  the  other,  is  exposing 
you  to  the  risk  of  an  eternal  loss,  and  may  allure  you  to 
a  point  beyond  which  there  will  be  no  help  for  you? 
Unresolvedness  and  half-purposes  are  an  absolute  hin- 
drance to  a  sound  conversion.  If  you  would  be  con- 
verted and  saved,  as  no  doubt  it  is  your  intention  some 
day,  do  not  stand  wavering,  but  resolve  at  once,  and 
turn  to  God  through  Christ  with  a  believing,  trusting 
heart  as  well  as  intellect;  and  let  it  be  seen  and  known 
that  you  are  acting  up  to  your  real  convictions  of  duty 
to  yourself  and  your  God. 

If  ihis  were  a  doubtful  business,  I  would  not  persuade 
you  to  do  it  rashly ;  or  if  there  were  any  danger  to  your 
souls  in  thus  resolving,  I  would  say  no  more.  But  when 
it  is  a  business  that  should  be  beyond  all  dispute  with 
men  and  women  of  reason,  why  should  you  still  waver 
and  stagger,  as  if  it  were  a  doubtful  business  ?  What  a 
shame  it  must  be  to  be  unresolved  as  to  whether  God  or 
the  world  is  to  have  our  hearts,  and  command  chiefly  our 
affections  and  services.  If  it  be  a  disgrace  and  an  ex- 
hibition of  folly  for  a  man  to  be  unresolved  as  to  whether 
a  bed  of  thorns  or  of  feathers  were  the  easier,  or  as  to 
whether  the  great  sun  or  a  mere  clod  of  earth  was  the 
more  luminous  and  glorious,  it  must  be  a  far  greater 
shame  and  folly  for  a  man  to  be  unresolved  as  to  whether 
it  be  God  or  the  world  that  must  make  him  happy,  and 


HOW  LONG  HALT  YE  BETWEEN  TWO  OPINIONS?    21 9 

that  should  have  the  chief  place  in  his  heart ;  and  whether 
a  life  of  sin  or  a  life  of  holiness  is  the  better  life.  Those 
who  halt  and  waver  between  two  opinions,  in  the  matter 
of  religion,  are  "like  travellers  who  halt  in  indecision  at 
cross-roads,  with  a  furious  storm  and  a  dark  night  rapidly 
approaching ;  or  like  a  pilot  who  doubts  what  to  do  with 
the  helm  when  the  ship  is  driving  before  the  wind 
through  a  dangerous  channel."  To  hesitate  or  waver 
at  such  a  time  about  what  to  do  involves  a  most  fearful 
risk  ;  but  not  nearly  so  fearful  as  that  which  accompanies 
halting,  wavering  delay  in  the  matter  of  religion  ;  in 
deciding  the  question  of  salvation  by  a  prompt  and  im- 
mediate compliance  with  the  provision  made  for  it  and 
with  the  terms  on  which  it  is  offered.  Nothing  should 
be  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  and  hinder  such  a  deci- 
sion. The  dissuasions  of  the  best  and  dearest  friends 
should  be  rejected  firmly  and  persistently  for  the  sake  of 
the  soul ;  its  present  and  eternal  welfare.  A  young  man 
thus  made  up  his  mind  and  devoted  himself  to  a  reli- 
gious life.  His  ungodly  parents  sent  him  many  letters 
to  dissuade  him  from  it.  But  being  fully  decided  to  go 
on  in  his  chosen  course,  when  any  such  letters  came  to 
him  he  paid  no  attention  to  their  contents,  and  threw 
them  into  the  fire;  and  so  when  friends,  kindred,  or 
associates  stand  between  us  and  Christ,  and  try  to  turn 
us  away  from  him,  and  to  keep  us  from  becoming  his 
believing  and  devoted  followers,  they  must  be  disre- 
garded; for  it  is  a  question  of  eternal  life  or  eternal 
death,  and  should  be  decided  at  once ;  because  the 
future  is  still  uncertain,  and  we  know  not  when  the 
curtain  will  fall. 

*  *  Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve ;  ' '  and  may 
God  help  you  to  make  a  right  choice  and  to  make  it 
now. 


Consecration. 


BY  REV.  G.   B.  STRICKLER,  D.  D., 
Pastor  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church,  Atlanta,  Ga. 


'*  I  beseech  you,  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God, 
that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable 
unto  God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service." — Romans  xii.  t. 

IN  many  minds  there  is  considerable  prejudice  against 
doctrinal  preaching.  It  is  said  that  many  of  the  doc- 
trines are  very  obscure  ;  that  some  of  them,  indeed, 
are  incomprehensible ;  that  there  is  too  much  difference 
of  opinion  about  them  for  them  to  be  profitable  subjects 
of  discussion ;  that  the  only  result  of  such  discussion  is 
to  confuse  and  bewilder  the  understanding,  and  to  lead 
the  attention  away  from  the  practical  duties  of  life  into 
a  region  of  barren  speculation.  Besides,  it  is  sometimes 
added,  it  does  not  make  much  difference  what  any  one 
believes  in  regard  to  the  doctrines  of  religion,  provided 
only  he  keeps  close  to  the  duties  laid  down  in  God's 
word ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  kind  of  preaching  that  is 
to  be  preferred  is  that  which  clearly  points  out  those 
duties  and  earnestly  insists  on  their  discharge. 

Those,  however,  who  hold  these  views  have  entirely 
failed  to  apprehend  the  connection  that  subsists  between 
doctrines  and  duties.  What  are  the  doctrines  of  reli- 
gion ?  They  relate  to  such  subjects  as  the  nature  and 
attributes  of  God  ;  the  relations  in  which  he  stands  to 
men ;  the  relations  in  which  they  stand  to  him ;  and 
man's  past  history,  present  condition,  and  eternal  des- 
tiny.    These  are  some  of  the  subjects  to  which  the  doc- 

220 


aljects 


CONSECRATION.  221 

trines  relate.  And  now  every  true  doctrine  is  only  the 
assertion  of  a  fact  in  regard  to  one  or  more  of  these  sub- 
jects. It  is  a  doctrine  of  religion  that  there  is  a  "God, 
infinite,  eternal,  and  unchangeable  in  his  being,  wisdom, 
power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness,  and  truth"  ;  but  that 
is  also  a  fact.  It  is  a  doctrine  of  religion  that  man  has 
fallen  from  the  high  estate  in  which  he  was  created  by 
sinning  against  God,  and  has  become  spiritually  totally 
depraved;  but  that  is  also  a  fact.  It  is  a  doctrine  of 
religion  that  "there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven 
given  among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved ' '  except 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  but  that  is  also  a 
fact ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  all  the  doctrines.  They  are 
all  facts  ;  so  that  the  doctrines  of  religion  are  nothing 
more,  nothing  less,  than  the  facts  of  religion.  Thus 
they  lie  at  its  foundation.  They  make  it  possible,  since 
they  furnish  the  basis  on  which  it  rests.  What  sort  of  a 
religion  would  that  be  that  was  not  grounded  in,  and 
built  upon,  well  ascertained  facts?  But,  since  the  doc- 
trines of  religion  are  its  facts,  how  is  it  possible  intelli- 
gently to  preach  it  except  by  making  its  doctrines  known 
and  their  meaning  understood? 

But  what  is  the  relation  that  subsists  between  doctrines 
and  duties  ?  Plainly  this  :  the  doctrines  make  the  duties. 
Why  is  it  my  duty  to  love  God  ?  To  find  an  answer  to 
that  question,  must  I  not  go  back  to  certain  doctrines  of 
religion  ;  and  do  I  not  say  it  is  my  duty  to  love  him 
because  he  is  infinitely  excellent  and  glorious  in  himself ; 
because  he  is  my  Creator,  Preserver,  and  Redeemer; 
because  he  has  bestowed  great  blessings  on  me  in  the 
past,  and  offers  to  bestow  on  me  still  greater  blessings  in 
the  future  ?  And  do  not  these  doctrines  thus  make  the 
duty  of  loving  him  ;  and  if  these  doctrines  were  not  facts, 
would  there  rest  on  my  heart  the  slightest  obligation  to 


222  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

fix  its  supreme  affections  on  him  ?  Why  is  it  my  duty  to 
believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  To  answer  that  ques- 
tion, must  I  not  again  go  back  to  certain  doctrines  of  reli- 
gion ;  and  do  I  not  say  that  it  is  my  duty  to  believe  on 
him  because  I  am  a  lost  and  helpless  sinner ;  because  he 
is  the  only  Saviour ;  because  he  commands  me  to  believe 
on  him  ;  because  he  is  worthy  of  all  my  confidence ; 
because  only  by  believing  on  him  can  I  be  brought  into 
that  spiritual  condition  in  which  I  shall  be  able  to  render 
to  him  the  worship  and  service  of  which  he  is  infinitely 
worthy  ?  And  do  not  these  doctrines  thus  make  the  duty 
of  believing  on  him  ;  and  if  these  doctrines  were  not  also 
facts,  would  there  be  any  reason  whatever  why  I  should 
give  him  the  supreme  confidence  of  my  soul  ? 

Thus  the  doctrines  of  religion  make  its  duties.  There 
is  not  a  single  duty  imposed  upon  us  in  God's  word  that 
is  not  created  by  one  or  more  of  the  doctrines  there  incul- 
cated. This  being  true,  we  can  now  see  why  doctrines 
are  to  be  preached.  They  are  to  be  preached  that  duties 
may  be  known.  Since  doctrines  create  duties,  it  is 
impossible  in  the  nature  of  things  that  any  one  can  know 
anything  more  about  his  duties — their  nature;  their 
number ;  their  importance  ;  their  obligatory  force — than 
he  knows  about  the  doctrines  out  of  which  the}^  spring. 
Doctrines  and  duties,  therefore,  ought  always  to  be 
preached  in  closest  connection  ;  the  doctrines  as  giving 
rise  to  the  duties ;  the  duties  as  flowing  out  of  the  doc- 
trines. 

I  make  these  remarks  in  introducing  this  discourse 
because  I  have  observed  that  it  is  in  this  way  that  the 
apostle  presents  doctrines  and  duties  in  this  epistle,  and 
in  all  his  other  epistles.  In  the  previous  part  of  this 
epistle  he  establishes  a  number  of  doctrines ;  and 
amongst  them  the  doctrine  that  God  is  infinitely  merci- 


CONSECRATION.  223 

ful  and  has  bestowed  infinite  mercies  on  the  human  race 
through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  now  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  twelfth  chapter  he  beseeches  those  to  whom 
he  was  writing  by  those  mercies  to  perform  the  great 
duty  to  which  they  give  rise :  * '  present  your  bodies  a 
living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God,  which  is  your 
reasonable  service. ' ' 

In  considering  the  text,  I  shall  follow  the  apostle's 
method.  I  shall  point  out  the  duty  to  which  he  sum- 
mons us,  and,  then,  the  doctrines  out  of  which  it 
springs : 

I.  A  careful  analysis  of  his  words  will  show  that  he 
here  teaches  that  it  is  our  duty  to  make  a  voluntary  and 
entire  consecration  of  ourselves  and  all  we  have  to  the 
Lord  as  an  act  of  religious  worship.  He  expressly  says 
that  we  are  to  present  our  bodies  to  him.  "Present 
your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice."  That  means,  of  course, 
that  every  power  of  the  body  is  to  be  his.  The  eyes  are 
to  be  his  to  survey  his  glory  in  his  word  and  in  his 
works.  The  ears  are  to  be  his  to  listen  to  his  com- 
mands. The  mouth  is  to  be  his  to  proclaim  his  name, 
and  celebrate  his  praise.  The  hands  are  to  be  his  to 
labor  for  the  promotion  of  the  interests  of  his  kingdom. 
The  feet  are  to  be  his  to  run  in  the  way  of  his  command- 
ments. The  whole  body  is  to  be  his  to  serve  him  in 
every  way  that  he  shall  require.  Clearly  so  much  as 
that  is  meant  when  he  says,  "present  your  bodies  a  liv- 
ing sacrifice." 

But  is  that  all  that  is  meant?  Can  it  be  possible,  that 
after  eleven  chapters  of  solid  argument,  the  design  of 
which  in  great  part  is  to  make  known  the  extent  of  our 
obligations  to  God,  he  could  draw  no  broader,  nor 
grander  conclusion,  than  that  our  bodies  only  are  to  be 
presented  to  him?     Surely  not.     That  under  the   word 


224  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

* '  bodies ' '  he  necessarily  includes  our  souls  is  evi- 
dent from  the  fact  that  our  bodies  can  be  consecrated 
only  by  our  souls  ;  and  they  can  make  the  consecration 
only  when  they  see  it  to  be  due  to  God,  and  are  honestly 
wilhng  to  make  it  because  it  is  due.  But  when  they  see 
that,  it  is  impossible  that  they  should  not  also  consecrate 
themselves  to  him,  for  they  will  then  see  that  that  is  due 
to  him  even  more,  if  possible,  than  the  consecration 
of  the  body  is.  It  is  further  evident,  that  under  the  word 
bodies  he  necessarily  includes  our  souls,  from  the  fact 
that  our  bodies  are  controlled  by  our  souls,  and,  there- 
fore, can  be  of  no  service  to  God  unless  our  souls  are  con- 
secrated with  them.  Of  what  service  would  a  ship  be  to 
us  unless  we  had  control  of  that  which  guides  the  ship? 
And  so,  of  what  service  can  our  bodies  be  to  God  unless 
he  has  control  of  that  which  guides  our  bodies  ?  "  The 
soul,  then,  as  well  as  the  body,  is  to  be  consecrated  to 
him.  All  its  faculties  are  to  be  devoted  to  his  service. 
The  understanding  is  to  be  his  to  know  him.  The  will 
is  to  be  his  to  choose  him.  The  heart  is  to  be  his  to 
love  him.  The  conscience  is  to  be  his  to  represent  his 
authority  in  the  soul,  and  to  enforce  obedience  to  all  his 
commandments.  The  whole  soul  is  to  be  his  to  glorify 
him  in  every  way  he  shall  make  possible. 

But  can  we  stop  here?  Does  the  apostle  mean  that 
we  are  to  stop  here,  and  conclude  that  only  our  bodies 
and  souls  are  to  be  consecrated  to  God?  Every  writer 
must  be  understood  to  mean,  not  only  what  he  directly 
asserts,  but  everything  else  that  his  language  neces- 
sarily implies  ;  and  this  rule  of  interpretation  is  specially 
valid  in  application  to  the  Scriptures,  because  they  were 
written  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  But 
he  distinctly  foresaw  every  necessary  inference  from  every 
statement  there  made  ;  and,  therefore,  every  such  neces- 


CONSECRATION.  1 25 

sary  inference  is  just  as  true  as  every  explicit  statement 
is.  Does  not  the  apostle,  then,  necessarily  imply  that 
more  is  to  be  consecrated  than,  simply  our  bodies  and 
souls?  Does  he  not  imply  that  all  that  is  ours — our 
time,  our  possessions,  our  influence — is  also  to  be  con- 
secrated to  him,  and  as  entirely  as  our  bodies  and  souls? 
Nothing  can  be  more  evident.  When  we  consecrate  our 
bodies  and  souls  to  him,  that  is,  when  we  consecrate 
ourselves  to  him,  the  very  idea  of  the  consecration  is 
that  we  are  thereafter  to  live  for  him.  But  how  can  we 
live  for  him  except  as  our  time  is  ^pent  for  him,  and  our 
possessions  are  employed  in  promoting  the  interests  of 
his  cause  and  our  influence  is  exerted  in  behalf  of  his 
kingdom  ?  The  very  idea  of  consecration,  then,  carries 
in  it,  not  only  our  bodies  and  souls,  but  everything  else 
that  is  in  any  sense  ours. 

So  far  as  we  have  examined  the  text,  then,  it  teaches 
that  we  and  all  that  is  ours  are  to  be  presented  a  living 
sacrifice  unto  the  Lord.  But  we  have  not  yet  exhausted 
its  meaning.  It  needs  to  be  emphasized  that  all  that  is 
ours  is  to  be  actually  devoted  to  the  Lord.  It  will  not 
do  to  present  it  in  theory  whilst  we  keep  it  in  reality.  It 
will  not  do  to  present  it  in  profession  whilst  we  keep  it  in 
fact.  It  will  not  do  so  to  present  it  that  a  kind  of  joint 
proprietorship  in  it  is  established  between  ourselves  and 
him  by  which  we  permit  him  to  share  with  us  in  its  tfse. 
It  will  not  do  so  to  present  it  to  him  that  we  shall  gra- 
ciously allow  him  to  have  for  his  purposes  what  we  think 
we  do  not  need  for  our  own  purposes.  That  is  not  the  con- 
secration here  inculcated.  We  are  to  present  it  a  sacri- 
fice. We  are  to  lay  it  all  on  his  altar  to  be  consumed  in 
his  service.  This  is  a  very  different  view  of  the  great 
duty  from  that  generally  entertained  by  Christians.  The 
prevalent  view  amongst  them  seems  to  be  that  they  are 
15 


226  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

first  to  set  apart  for  their  own  use  so  much  as  they  think 
they  need  for  that  purpose,  and  then  give  to  God  the 
remainder.  Unfortunately,  their  selfish  conceptions  of 
their  own  wants  are  usually  so  great  that  there  is  no 
remainder,  or  it  is  very  small  ;  and  that  is  the  reason  why 
the  treasuries  of  the  churches  are  almost  always  empty, 
and  why  the  great  causes  in  which  the  church  is  engaged 
have  to  go  around  amongst  the  churches,  and  at  almost 
every  door  beg  and  beg,  like  poor  mendicants,  to  get 
enough  to  keep  them  from  perishing ;  and  even  then 
generally  get  only  the  trimmings  and  parings  of  liberal 
incomes.  It  is  no  such  consecration  as  that  the  apostle 
here  enjoins.  The  consecration  he  insists  on  is  first  to 
present  to  the  Lord  all  that  is  ours,  and  then  receive 
back  from  him  for  our  own  purposes  so  much  as  we  see 
in  his  word  he  permits  us  thus  to  employ.  And  if  that 
were  the  consecration  characterizing  his  people,  his  trea- 
suries would  overflow,  and  his  work  would  be  prosecuted 
with  something  like  that  vigor  of  which  it  is  worthy. 

But  there  is  still  more  in  the  text  on  this  important 
subject.  Not  only  must  all  that  is  ours  be  presented  to 
the  Lord  a  sacrifice,  but  it  must  be  presented  a  living 
sacrifice.  Under  the  old  dispensation  the  time  necessary 
for  a  sacrifice  was  very  brief;  perhaps  an  hour  was 
abundantly  sufficient  for  the  purpose ;  and  the  sacrifice 
was  consummated  by  the  death  of  the  victim.  But  it  is 
to  no  such  sacrifice  as  that  that  we  are  here  summoned. 
The  time  necessary  for  our  sacrifice  is  the  whole  time 
from  this  moment  forward  to  the  end  of  our  earthly 
history ;  and  the  sacrifice  is  to  be  consummated,  not  by 
our  being  slain  for  the  Lord,  but  by  our  living  for  him  ; 
and,  therefore,  it  is  called  a  living  sacrifice,  a  sacrifice 
that  is  to  be  repeated,  continued,  protracted  to  the  last 
moment  of  our  earthly  existence. 


CONSECRATION.  227 

And  not  only  must  it  be  a  living  sacrifice,  but  it  must 
be  a  holy  sacrifice.  Under  the  old  dispensation  it  was 
necessary  that  the  sacrifice  offered  should  be  without 
essential  physical  defect.  The  lamb  must  be  without 
spot  or  blemish.  It  is  necessary  that  this  sacrifice  to 
which  we  are  here  summoned  shall  be  without  essential, 
spiritual  defect.  That  is,  it  is  necessary  that  the  motives 
prompting  us  to  make  it  shall,  at  least  prevalently,  be 
such  as  are  acceptable  to  God.  It  will  not  do  to  make 
this  sacrifice  simply  because  it  is  expedient,  or  because 
it  is  seemly,  or  because  it  secures  the  applause  of  men, 
or  some  other  merely  secular  end,  or  because  only  by 
making  it  we  can  escape  the  righteous  retributions  of 
eternity.  These  may  come  in  as  subordinate  motives 
prompting  us  to  make  it ;  but  if  we  would  so  make  it 
that  it  shall  be  ' '  holy  ' '  in  his  sight  we  must  make  it 
because  he  requires  it,  and  because  we  love  him,  and 
because  we  wish  to  do  his  will,  and  to  glorify  his  great 
and  holy  name. 

But  the  apostle  has  more  yet  to  say  on  this  important 
theme.  Not  only  must  we  present  all  that  is  ours  a 
living  and  a  holy  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord,  but  we  must 
do  it  voluntarily  and  cheerfully.  He  does  not  ask  us  to 
do  it  simply  as  a  duty,  or  under  the  constraints  of  con- 
science, or  that  we  may  escape  the  divine  displeasure ; 
but  he  beseeches  us  to  do  it  by  the  mercies  of  God — the 
infinitely  great  and  precious  mercies  that  he  had  just 
been  pointing  out,  and  we  are  to  make  it  gladly  and 
gratefully  in  response  to  those  mercies.  And,  then,  once 
more,  it  is  to  be  of  the  nature  of  religious  worship.  Such 
was  the  nature  of  all  the  sacrifices  under  the  old  dis- 
pensation ;  and  much  more,  if  possible,  must  it  be  the 
nature  of  the  more  purely  spiritual  sacrifice  here  en- 
joined. 


228  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

Such  is  the  apostle's  teaching  as  to  this  great  duty  ; 
and  if  we  now  sum  up  all  that  has  been  educed  from  the 
text,  I  think  we  shall  find  that  the  statement  made  at 
the  beginning  is  true,  that  he  teaches  that  it  is  our  duty 
to  make  a  voluntary  and  entire  consecration  of  ourselves 
and  all  that  is  ours  to  God  as  an  act  of  religious  wor- 
ship. 

II.  And  now  let  us  consider  some  of  the  doctrines  that 
give  rise  to  this  duty ;  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  let  us 
consider  some  of  the  reasons  by  which  it  is  enforced.  * '  I 
beseech  you,"  says  the  apostle,  "by  the  mercies  of  God, 
to  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice."  I  suppose  he 
appeals  both  to  the  mercies  that  are  in  God  and  to  the 
mercies  that  are  from  him.  I  may  say,  then,  in  the  first 
place,  that  he  here  appeals  to  the  mercies  that  are  in 
God ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  the  fact  that  God  is  a  merci- 
ful being,  to  induce  us  to  consecrate  ourselves  to  him ; 
and  there  is  good  reason  for  this  form  of  appeal.  Men 
are  by  nature  afraid  to  consecrate  themselves  to  him. 
They  are  afraid  their  enjoyments  will  be  abridged,  their 
happiness  diminished,  their  liberty  infringed  upon,  and 
their  secular  prosperity  interfered  with.  They  are  afraid 
that  they  will  lose  something  desirable  and  valuable  that 
they  might  else  enjoy  in  this  world.  So  far  as  the  future 
is  concerned  they  are  convinced  that  it  would  be  better 
to  be  the  Lord's ;  but  so  far  as  this  life  is  concerned  they 
can  hardly  help  believing  that  much  more  that  is  desir- 
able and  enjoyable  may  be  secured  by  standing  some- 
what aloof  from  God  and  his  service,  than  by  entire  con- 
secration to  it,  and,  therefore,  they  refuse  to  perform 
this  duty.  Now  the  apostle  would  remove  that  erroneous 
impression  by  assuring  them  that  God  is  a  merciful,  an 
infinitely  merciful  being ;  and  that,  therefore,  he  cannot 
mean  b}"  the  consecration  here  asked  to  do  them  harm ; 


CONSECRATION. 


229 


but  must  mean  to  do  them  good.  He  cannot  mean  to 
make  their  condition  worse ;  but  must  mean  to  make  it 
better ;  must  mean  to  bestow  on  them  richer  enjoy- 
ments, and  a  higher  happiness,  and  a  truer  Hberty,  and 
better  qualifications  for  the  discharge  of  all  the  secular 
duties  of  life.  Certainly  his  people  have  always  so  found 
it.  There  never  has  been  a  man  who  truly  consecrated 
himself  to  God  who  did  not  find  it  a  change  for  the  bet- 
ter in  every  important  respect,  and  that  all  his  highest 
interests  for  time  and  for  eternity  were  promoted  by  it. 
He  has  found  his  **  ways  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  his 
paths  paths  of  peace"  ;  his  yoke  easy  and  his  burden 
light.  He  has  found  him  ' '  a  very  present  help  in  time 
of  trouble " ;  "a  friend  that  sticketh  closer  than  a 
brother  ; "  a  guide  in  perplexity  ;  a  comforter  in  sorrow ; 
a  defender  in  danger  ;  and  that  the  longer  he  continued 
in  his  service  the  richer  became  its  rewards  ;  and  those 
who  have  finished  their  course  in  his  service  have  found 
that  he  went  with  them  down  into  the  dark  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death,  and  that  he  permitted  them  even 
there  to  fear  no  evil;  and  that  on  the  farther  side  he 
took  them  up  and  presented  them  faultless  before  the 
presence  of  his  glory  with  exceeding  great  joy.  Such 
has  been  the  experience  of  all  those  who  consecrated 
themselves  to  him  and  spent  their  lives  in  his  service. 
Here,  then,  is  the  apostle's  appeal :  '*  I  beseech  you  by 
the  mercies  of  God ' ' — these  mercies  that  he  has  bestowed 
on  all  his  people  in  the  past — I  beseech  you  by  these 
mercies  to  consecrate  yourselves  to  him,  that  he  may 
bestow  these  mercies  on  you.  Ought  not  such  an  appeal 
to  prevail  with  us?  Unconverted  friends,  why  should 
you  hesitate  to  respond  to  it?  What  is  the  character  of 
the  master  whom  you  are  now  serving?  How  does  he 
treat  his  servants  ?     Perhaps  you  may  find  an  illustration 


230  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

of  his  character  and  of  the  manner  in  which  he  treats  his 
servants  in  a  fable  that  you  may  remember  to  have  read. 
A  tyrant  once  called  one  of  his  subjects  into  his  presence 
and  asked  him  what  was  his  employment.  He  answered 
that  he  was  a  blacksmith.  "  Go,"  said  he,  "  and  make 
me  a  chain  of  such  a  length."  He  went  and  did  as  he 
was  commanded,  expecting  to  be  suitably  rewarded 
when  he  presented  the  chain  completed  in  his  master's 
presence.  But  his  master  only  bade  him  go  and  make  it 
twice  as  long;  and  this  he  did  again  and  again,  until  the 
poor  man's  life  had  been  worn  out  by  his  unrequited 
toil.  Finally  he  presented  himself  in  his  master's  pre- 
sence for  the  last  time,  hoping  that  then  at  least  he 
would  have  compassion  on  him  and  minister  to  his  long 
neglected  wants.  But,  to  his  amazement,  he  only  bade 
his  servants  come  and  take  the  chain  he  had  made  and 
bind  him  hand  and  foot  and  cast  him  into  a  furnace  of 
fire  !  Such  is  the  character  of  the  master  you  now  serve. 
You  are  engaged  in  the  service  of  sin.  You  have  not 
yet  received  any  very  satisfactory  reward ;  but  you  are 
expecting  it  here  often;  and  so  you  continue  in  that 
service.  Alas !  you  know  not  that  all  this  promise  of 
reward  is  mere  delusion.  You  know  not  that  you,  too, 
are  engaged  in  making  a  chain  that  is  at  last  to  fetter 
your  own  limbs.  Every  day  you  are  making  it  longer. 
Every  sinful  thought .;  every  sinful  feeling  ;  every  sinful 
word  ;  every  sinful  act  adds  an  additional  link  to  it ;  and 
soon  it  will  be  sufficiently  long  to  enwrap  your  whole 
being  in  the  folds  of  an  endless  bondage,  and  then  will 
come  the  dreadful  command,  "bind  him  hand  and  foot, 
and  cast  him  into  the  furnace  of  fire. "  It  is  absolutely 
certain  that  this  is  to  be  the  result  of  your  service  of  sin  ; 
' '  for  the  wages  of  sin  is  death. ' '  Why,  then,  should  you 
hesitate  to  give  up  the  service  of  such  a  master  as  that, 


CONSECRATION. 


231 


and  engage  in  the  service  of  such  a  master  as  this,  who 
never  practises  cruelties  on  his  servants,  and  who  never 
keeps  back  any  promised  rewards  ;  but  who  multipHes 
unto  them  grace  and  mercy  and  peace  in  this  Hfe,  and 
in  the  Hfe  to  come  bestows  on  them  glory  and  honor  and 
immortality  ? 

But  the  apostle  appeals  not  only  to  the  mercies  that 
are  in  God.  He  appeals  also  to  the  mercies  that  are  from 
God.  He  appeals  to  the  mercies  that  are  from  God  in 
providence  to  induce  us  to  consecrate  ourselves  to  his 
service.  No  thoughtful  person  can  deny  that  he  is  kept  in 
being  every  moment  by  the  providential  mercies  of  God. 
I  know  that  many  have  the  notion  that  they  are  their 
own  preservers  in  life ;  that  they  provide  for  themselves 
that  on  which  they  subsist,  and  so  do  not  realize  their 
dependence  on  God.  But  the  groundlessness  of  the  no- 
tion is  easily  revealed.  Whose  is  the  air  we  are  now 
breathing,  and  who  pours  it  around  the  world  in  such 
abundance  and  keeps  it  so  fresh  and  pure?  Whose  is 
the  light  that  every  day  shines  down  upon  us  from  above, 
shedding  around  us  its  genial  warmth  and  illuminating 
our  pathway?  Whose  are  the  clouds  that  traverse  the 
heavens,  bringing  us  the  early  and  latter  rains  and  fruitful 
seasons,  so  that  there  is  enough  for  man  and  for  beast? 
Whose  are  the  springs  that  rise  among  the  hills  and  flow 
among  valleys,  quenching  the  thirst  of  every  living 
thing?  How  does  it  come  to  pass  that  these  natural 
agencies  are  constantly  ministering  to  our  ever- recurring 
wants  ?  Are  they  the  provisions  of  man '  s  skill  ?  He  has 
no  more  to  do  with  their  existence  and  activites  than  he 
has  to  do  with  the  remotest  star  that  shines  in  the  depths 
of  space.  God  is  their  author,  and  all  their  movements 
are  regulated  by  his  will.  But,  now,  without  their 
ministrations  we  could  not  continue  in  existence  for  an 


232  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTP:RIAN  PULPIT. 

hour.  Let  him  take  away  the  air  we  are  now  breathing ; 
let  him  extinguish  the  lights  that  shine  in  the  heavens ; 
let  him  stop  the  kind  ministrations  of  the  clouds ;  let 
him  bid  the  springs  hide  themselves  in  the  caverns  of  the 
earth ,  and  w^hat  then  would  become  of  man '  s  vain  notion 
that  he  is  his  own  supporter  in  life?  As  quickly  as  he 
sprang  up  out  of  the  dust  would  he  return  to  it  and  be 
no  more.  Thus  we  are  kept  in  being  every  moment  by 
the  mercies  of  God.  But  do  these  mercies  deserve  no 
recognition  at  our  hands?  Do  they  call  for  no  love  and 
for  no  service  ?  Can  anything  be  plainer  than  this  :  that 
if  we  are  kept  in  being  every  moment  by  the  mercies  of 
God  that  being  ought  to  be  consecrated  to  him  ?  This  is 
the  appeal  the  apostle  here  makes  from  the  providential 
mercies  of  God.  Ought  we  not  to  respond  to  it  also?  I 
confess  I  know  not  how  to  characterize  the  conduct  of 
the  man  w^ho  sees  that  he  is  thus  kept  in  being  by  the 
mercies  of  God,  and  yet  deliberately  goes  on  in  sin  against 
him.  It  may  be  illustrated  by  an  historical  incident.  It 
is  said  that  in  the  battle  of  Alma,  in  1854,  a  w^ounded 
Russian  soldier  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English  and 
was  piteously  crying  for  w^ater.  An  English  captain 
stepped  aside  from  the  ranks  of  a  passing  regiment  and 
ministered  to  his  wants,  and  then  hastened  on  to  join  his 
command.  The  wounded  man  was  much  refreshed,  and 
struggling  up  in  the  use  of  the  strength  that  captain's 
kindness  had  ministered  to  him,  picked  up  his  gun,  de- 
liberately took  aim,  and  shot  him  as  he  passed  away  in 
the  distance.  Now  we  are  amazed  ;  we  are  indignant  at 
such  ingratitude  as  that.  But  what  does  the  poor  sinner 
do  who  is  kept  in  being  every  hour  by  the  mercies  of 
God?  He  does  not,  indeed,  in  the  use  of  the  strength 
that  God  every  hour  confers  upon  him,  inflict  on  him  a 
mortal  mound  ;  for  he  is  beyond  his  reach,  and,  besides. 


CONSECRATION.  233 

is  invulnerable  to  his  assaults.  But  he  does  inflict  on 
him  the  only  wrong  in  his  power.  The  very  breath 
he  gives  him  he  breathes  out  before  him,  perhaps,  in 
words  offensive  to  his  purity  and  insulting  to  his  majesty. 
The  very  powers  of  body  and  mind  he  bestows  on  him 
he  employs  in  violating  his  law,  and  the  very  being  he 
preserves  for  him  he  moves  up  and  dov/n  on  the  earth 
right  before  his  face  in  the  constant  attitude  of  rebellion 
against  his  authority  !  Dear  unconverted  friends,  abhor 
such  ingratitude  as  that,  and  since  you  are  kept  in  being 
every  hour  by  the  mercies  of  God,  do  what  is  here 
insisted  on  :  consecrate  that  being  to  him. 

But  as  the  apostle  appeals  to  the  mercies  that  are  from 
God  in  providence,  so  he  appeals  to  the  mercies  that  are 
from  him  in  redemption.  In  this  epistle  he  proves  that 
all  have  sinned ;  that  all  have  gone  astray  ;  that  all  are 
exposed  to  the  penalty  of  the  law ;  that  all  are  so  unde- 
serving and  so  ill-deserving  that  they  are  justly  exposed 
to  the  doom  threatened  against  the  finally  impenitent ; 
but  that,  nevertheless,  God  has  given  for  their  redemp- 
tion the  very  most  and  the  very  best  even  he  could  give : 
the  blood  and  life  of  his  own  Son ;  and  it  is  specially  in 
view  of  this  mercy — so  wonderful ;  so  immeasurable — 
that  he  entreats  us  to  devote  ourselves  to  his  service; 
and  if  we  appreciate  his  appeal  as  we  should,  we  will 
gladly  say : 

"  Lord,  I  am  thine,  entirely  thine, 

Purchased  and  saved  by  blood  divine ; 
With  full  consent  thine  I  would  be. 
And  own  thy  sovereign  right  in  me. 

"  Thine  would  I  live  :  thine  would  I  die ; 
Be  thine  through  all  eternity." 

The  last  appeal  the  apostle  makes  to  secure  this  conse- 


234  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

cration  is  that  it  is  our  reasonable  service.  And  who  can 
say  anything  against  it?  Who  can  present  anything 
that  will  have  even  the  appearance  of  a  reason  why  we 
ought  not  to  do  what  is  here  enjoined  ?  Shall  we  not, 
then,  do  it?  Shall  we  follow  reason  everywhere  except 
where  it  is  most  important  to  follow  it  ?  If  so,  let  us 
not  be  surprised  if  the  disastrous  consequences  shall 
hereafter  be  in  proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  our  folly. 
I  make  one  remark  in  conclusion.  If  Christians  would 
perform  the  duty  here  enjoined,  many  of  them  would  be 
much  happier  than  they  now  are.  They  are  in  doubt  as 
to  the  relation  in  which  they  stand  to  the  Saviour.  They 
walk  in  darkness ;  and  most  probably  the  reason  is  that 
they  are  not  performing  this  duty  as  they  ought.  They 
are  not  wholly  consecrating  themselves  to  God.  If  we 
keep  back  anything  from  him,  he  will  keep  back  some- 
thing from  us.  If  we  keep  back  this  consecration  from 
him,  he  will  keep  back  the  evidence  that  we  are  his. 
But  if  we  give  ourselves  to  him,  he  will  give  himself  to 
us.  If  we  give  ourselves  wholly  to  him,  he  will  give 
himself  wholly  to  us ;  and  he  will  so  dwell  in  us  that  we 
shall  have  the  consciousness  that  we  are  his,  and  so  have 
the  "peace  that  passeth  all  understanding,"  and  the 
"joy  that  is  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory." 


'■^M  WORK  FOR 


^4 


TUP 


BY  REV.  WILLIAM  N.  SCOTT,   D    L>. 
./.v  of  the  First  Presbvtt>- ran  Church,  Ga'vestor 


I 


"And  let  him  that  heareth  say. 

[Read  in  connection  John  i.  40-  fi 
xxii.  17-21.] 


Marl. 


..■•i.  1,7 

and 

Rev. 

-.   be 

pre- 

■ation  of 

hich   we  are  all 

mpting 

of  a 

part  in 

this 

THK   ,  ..'  ;,'-•.    iH-rorc  us 
st'uted  arniss  to  m^y 
worshipper.- 
called   by    the    Maisit-i,    a- 
gracious  and  regenerate  i. 
great  work  of  calling  men  to  Rr^M-ntana;  and  to  life;  to 
'^say''  to  metj  about  us,  "  '      Christian,  young 

or  old,  is  excepted  and  exi  word  to  all  of  us 

is,   son!   daughter'    "  6>,  ivork  to-  v  vineyard.'' 

.    Let  me  say  in  the  outset  that  tlo       :  -  ■;  great  deal  of 
vvork — work  that  is  necessar)'  and  important — done  in 
the  church  and  in  connection  with  the  church,  which, 
while   bearing   on  this    work,  is  not    precisely  that  to 
vhicli  he  calls  us  when  he  says:    *'And  let  him  that 
leareth  say,   Come."     Many  of  us,  perhaps,  do  other 
ork,  do  it  well  and  faithfully,  who  do  but  little,  if  any, 
o{  this  vvork. 

Vhat,  then,  do  we  mean  by  ''  Perso7ial  work  for  tfu: 
Ma  ter''  f  W'e  have  several  striking  illustrations  of  it 
in  t  e  Scriptures  read  for  our  lesson  to-day — e.  g.  (i), 
We  I  ad  that  when  Andrew  had  found  the  Messiah,  and 


236  SOUTHERN  PKESBYTKRIAN  PULPIT. 

we7it  after  his  oum  brother,  Simon ' '  ;  went  after  him 
earnestly  and  persistently,  and  "found  him"  and 
''brought  him  to  Jesus.''  He  could  not  convert  him — 
save  him !  but  he  could  i^ivite  him  and  * '  bring  him  to 
Jesus,"  who  could  save  him!  Here,  then,  we  have  a 
*  *  brother  ' '  going  after  his  own  brother  according  to  the 
flesh  ;  and,  saved  himself,  seeking  to  save  his  brother. 
(2),  Next,  we  have  the  case  of  Philip,  who,  when 
he  had  * '  found  hi7n  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the 
prophets  did  write, ' '  immediately  sought  out  and  found 
his  friejid,  Nathaniel,  and  called  and  invited  him  to 
Christ.  And  when  Nathaniel,  like  many  of  our  friends, 
would  have  objected  and  argued  the  matter  with  him,  he 
gave  the  wise  and  sufficient  answer :  '  *  Co7ne  a7id  see. ' ' 
The  Christ  to  whom  he  called  him  would  be  the  suffi- 
cient answer  to  all  his  difficulties.  Here  we  have  the 
case  of  a  man  converted  to  God,  possessed  of  a  religious 
hope,  in  turn  going  after  his  frieyid — his  bosom  com- 
panion;  and,  in  the  language  of  this  text,  ''saying  to 
him,  Come" — inviting  him  to  Christ,  the  Saviour  of 
men.  (3),  Again,  take  the  case  of  that  poor  sufferer 
whom  Jesus  healed  in  Gadara,  who  was  possessed  of 
many  devils  and  driven  by  them  into  the  mountains 
and  the  tombs.  You  remember  that  when  he  was 
healed  and  given  back  his  reason,  the  first  cr^^  and 
prayer  of  his  heart  was  that  he  might  abide  with  the 
Master !  that  he  might  still  sit  at  his  feet  and  listen  to 
his  gracious  words  !  It  was  a  desire  that  we  can  all  un- 
derstand and  sympathize  with.  But  the  Master  said  to 
him,  "Not  so;  I  have  work  for  you  to  do,  the  time  of 
rest  is  not  yet.  Go  ho77te  to  thy  friends  and  tell  them 
there  what  great  things  the  Lord  hath  done  for  thee, 
and  hath  had  compassion  on  thee."  Here,  then,  we 
have  the  head  of  a  fa7nily,  father  or  mother,  commanded 


PERSONAL  WORK  FOR  THE  MASTER.  237 

and  commissioned  to  go  first  to  their  own  and  tell  the 
story  of  God's  love  and  grace,  and  seek  the  salvation 
of  those  whom  God  has  given  them.  (4),  And,  in 
fine,  in  the  language  of  the  text,  the  "last  message" 
of  Jesus  ascended,  we  have  the  solemn  and  tender 
charge,  given  to  all,  without  regard  to  human  ties  and 
relationships,  to  say  to  men  about  them — to  all  me7i,  to 
every  sinning,  suffering  soul, — "God  bids  you  come!" 
God  sets  before  you  ' '  an  open  door !  "  "  We  pray  you, 
in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God.''  What,  then, 
is  the  meaning  of  our  subject?  It  is  God's  call  to  all  of 
us,  to  every  one  who  loves  him  and  obeys  his  voice,  to 
take  part  in  this  great  work  of  saving  men — to  ' '  say  ' ' 
to  men  about  us,  "  Come  !  "  to  invite  others  to  Christ ! 

Our  duty  is  personal ;  our  opportunites  are  personal ; 
our  responsibility  is  personal;  our  reward  will  be  per- 
sonal.     '  *  Let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come. ' ' 

In  urging  this  subject  upon  my  brethren — 

Remark  I.:  That  this  duty  would  seem,  in  advance  of 
all  statement  and  argument,  to  be  both  reasonable  and 
7iatural.  Saved  ourselves  that  we  should  seek  to  save 
others.  Plucked  from  the  "miry  clay  and  the  horrible 
pit, "  our  '  *  feet  placed  upon  the  rock ' '  and  a  ' '  new  song 
put  into  our  mouths,"  we  should  as  instinctively  "  tell 
to  sinners  round  what  a  dear  Saviour  we  have  found, ' ' 
as  one  rescued  from  the  gates  of  death  by  the  skill  of  his 
physician  hastens  to  commend  him  to  others  about  him 
who  are  suffering  with  the  like  affliction.  Surely  there 
is  nothing  unreasonable  or  fanatical  in  this !  He  who 
should  sit  down  at  ease  and  indifference  to  the  sufferings 
of  others  about  him,  and  yet  profess  that  he  himself  has 
been  healed  by  the  Great  Physician  of  souls,  would  be  a 
monster  of  ingratitude  and  inhumanity  ! 

God  has  in  mercy  and  in  wisdom  ordained  this  as  our 


238  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

duty,  and  called  us  to  this  work.  In  mercy,  because  it 
is  thus  that  we  are  enriched  and  blessed  ourselves.  ' '  He 
that  watereth  others  shall  be  watered  himself."  There 
is  no  joy  like  this  joy!  The  joy  that  filled  a  Saviour's 
heart.  The  joy  of  those  who  "turn  many  to  righteous- 
ness." And,  then,  in  wisdo7n,  too.  For  after  all,  though 
it  be  but  an  earthen  vessel,"  yet  none  other  can  so  tell, 
so  effectively  and  so  sympathetically  tell,  the  joys  of  de- 
liverance and  salvation  as  those  who  have  themselves 
been  rescued  by  his  wondrous  power  and  grace!  Dr. 
Thomas  Guthrie,  in  his  ' '  Gospel  hi  Ezekiel, ' '  tells  of 
a  sun-burnt  stranger  from  some  far-off  eastern  clime 
who  one  day  stood  on  the  streets  of  a  great  city,  beside  a 
spot  where  birds  were  offered  for  sale.  As  he  saw  them 
ruffling  their  gay  plumage  against  their  prison  bars,  the 
tears  were  in  his  eyes.  Great  was  the  wonder  of  those 
who  stood  by,  when  he  bought  first  one  and  then  another 
and  another  of  the  birds,  and  opened  the  doors  and  set 
them  free,  till  they  were  all  soaring  and  singing  in  the 
bright  sunshine  !  And  when  they  asked  him  what  it  all 
meant,  he  answered,  with  deep  emotion,  ' '  I  was  myself 
once  a  prisoner  and  I  know  the  joys  of  liberty. ' ' 

No  angel  of  God,  or  messenger  from  a  sinless  heaven, 
could  ever  so  paint  the  pangs  of  sin  or  the  joys  of  salvation 
as  a  redeemed  and  ransomed  sinner !  Yes ;  it  should  be 
a  most  natural  thing  to  a  gracious  soul. 

Remark  II.  :  Yet  it  is  to  be  feared  that  it  is  a  sadly - 
neglected  -work.  There  are  many  fair  and  reputable 
church  members  who  take  but  small,  if  any,  part  in  it. 
There  are  many  who  teach  Sunday-school  and  Bible 
classes,  and  who  prepare  well  for  these  duties,  who  do 
but  little  of  this  direct  personal  work.  Nay,  there  are 
many  who  stand  in  the  sacred  desk  and  fill  the  responsi- 
ble place  of  ministers  of  the  word  who  are  sadly  derelict 


PERSONAL  WORK  FOR  THE  MASTER.  239 

here,  who  find  it  easier  to  preach  to  the  great  congrega- 
tion than  to  ' '  carry  the  gospel  from  house  to  house, ' ' 
and  from  heart  to  heart.  Our  own  heart  and  pastoral 
experiences  differ  much  from  those  of  others,  if  these 
testimonies  are  not  sadly  true.  How  often  have  we  met 
with  those  who  found  it  easier  to  talk  to  others  on  the 
subject  of  personal  religion  than  to  their  own — the  mem- 
bers of  their  own  family  circle  !  Parents  who  could  talk  to 
a  neighbor's  child  with  more  readiness  than  to  their  own 
flesh  and  blood !  Husbands  and  wives  who  have  kept 
silence  so  long  towards  each  as  to  the  inner  life  that  it 
seems  impossible  to  break  it.  We  are  called  here  to 
"utter  forth" — to  "say" — to  others — to  oiir  own — 
"COME."  I  am  not  urging  a  noisy  obtrusiveness — a 
testifying  which  is  of  the  lip,  and  not  of  the  heart! 
God  forbid  !  !  And  yet  a  silence  that  is  unbroken  on 
such  themes  and  with  such  motives,  urging  us  to  speak 
Old,  must  be  a  '  'guilty  silence. ' ' 

Remark  III.  :  It  is  evident  that  this  work  gteatly 
needs  to  be  done.  The  opportunities  of  Christian  minis- 
ters and  of  those  Christian  workers  who  give  their  whole 
life  up  to  God's  service  are  necessarily  limited,  however 
great  they  may  be  relatively.  They  can  only  reach  a 
certain  limited  number ;  and  then,  too,  there  are  often 
those  who,  for  one  cause  or  another,  are  not  accessible 
to  them. 

But  what  if  all  the  Lord's  people  were  in  this  matter 
* '  prophets  indeed  ' '  ?  What  if  the  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  Christians  all  about  us  were  obeying  this  call 
and  command:  "Let  him  that  heareth  say.  Come." 
Who  can  measure  the  results  which  would  follow? 
What  if  our  noble  Christian  physicians  in  the  exercise  of 
their  high  vocation  did  this  work  as  they  had  oppor- 
tunity ?     What  if  our  business  men,  with  the  scores  and 


240  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

hundreds  employed  under  them,  used  their  great  influ- 
ence to  this  holy  end?  What  if  the  humblest  Christian 
man  or  woman  were  faithful  here,  who  can  measure  the 
glory  to  God  in  the  salvation  of  men  which  would  be  the 
blessed  result?  Why,  we  should  have  Pentecost  all  the 
year  round !  And  this  is  the  divine  order  and  plan  for 
securing  it:  "Let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come."  Let 
there  be  this  warm,  tender,  universal  call  given !  and  in 
answer  to  it  the  ' '  rivers  of  salvation ' '  will  flow  all 
about  us ! ! 

It  is  greatly-needed  work.  Men  expect  it  of  you  if 
they  have  confidence  in  your  piety  and  Christian  char- 
acter. It  is  the  consistent  thing  they  expect  you  to  do. 
Your  silence  may  be  a  great  stumbling-block  in  their 
way,  leading  them  to  doubt  the  truth  of  all  that  which 
you  profess.  For,  say  they,  "if  you  believe  these  things 
how  can  you  keep  silent ' '  ! 

Said  a  young  lady  to  her  Bible-class  teacher,  when  at 
length  the  teacher  had  broken  silence  and  spoken  to  her 
warmly  of  her  soul,  ' '  I  have  been  praying  for  months 
that  you  would  speak  to  me."  That  teacher,  perhaps, 
was  not  more  remiss  than  most  of  us  are  !  All  around 
us  in  life  there  are  those  who  are  waiting  for  the  word 
at  our  mouth,  and  God  is  saying  to  us:  "Keep  not 
silence,  but  say  to  them  from  me,  'Come.'''  It  is 
greatly  7ieeded. 

Remark  IV. :  Such  work  is  greatly  ¥KV1T¥\ji..  There 
is  none  like  it  for  fruitfulness.  This  work  of  going  and 
carrying  the  invitation  personally  to  men ;  consecrating 
our  personal  affection,  sympathy,  and  influence  to  the 
work  of  wooing  and  winning  men  to  Christ.  It  is  un- 
doubtedly true  that  in  all  times  of  true  and  heaven-given 
revival  the  best  and  largest  results  are  reached  mainly 
thus :   Christians  are   stirred  up  and  go  to  work ;  those 


PERSONAL  WORK  FOR  THE  MASTER.  24 1 

who  have  been  silent  take  up  the  gospel  invitation  and 
extend  it  with  warmth  and  love ;  and  the  quickening 
Spirit  thus  brings  into  the  kingdom  those  who  would 
otherwise  never  have  been  reached.  It  was  so  at  the 
beginning,  at  Pentecost,  when  **they  were  all  as- 
sembled with  one  accord,  in  one  place, ' '  that  the  Spirit 
came  in  mighty  power!  It  was  God's  answer  to  the 
earnest  cry  and  awakening  of  his  people.  It  is  ever 
so.  It  ever  shall  be  so.  God  never  lays  a  command 
like  this  in  our  heart  and  conscience  without  pledging 
his  divine  power  for  our  help.  When  those  who  were 
* '  scattered  abroad ' '  by  the  persecutions  raised  at  Jeru- 
salem, "went  everywhere  preaching  the  word,"  they 
made  converts  and  planted  churches  wherever  they  went. 
In  answer  to  universal  efforts  there  were  universal  re- 
sults. Can  we  doubt  that  if  such  a  spirit  took  posses- 
sion of  the  church  of  Christ  to-day,  if  every  Andrew 
should  bring  his  brother  Simon,  if  every  Philip  should 
bring  his  friend  Nathaniel,  if  every  Christian  now  alive 
upon  the  earth  should  by  God's  help  bring  another  to 
Christ,  that  ere  the  new  century  had  advanced  far  into 
its  decades  the  world  would  have  been  ransomed  for  God ; 
the  hallelujah  chorus  of  redeemed  millions  would  be 
heard  from  isle  to  isle,  from  continent  to  continent,  yea, 
* '  from  the  river  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ! ' ' 

Remark  V.  :  I  cannot  now  speak  of  the  glory  and 
blessedness  of  this  work ;  of  the  richness,  the  joy  of  that 
soul  who,  '  *  laboring  with  Christ, ' '  has  turned  many  to 
righteousness,"  and  in  whose  crown  of  rejoicing  in 
heaven  ' '  stars  ' '  shall  shine  for  ever.  Such  an  one  needs 
no  monument  of  brass  or  marble  to  tell  the  story  of  his 
or  her  life.  His  monument  is  builded  where  there  are 
''neither  griefs  nor  graves."  It  will  be  unveiled  when 
the  King  himself  shall  rise  up  and  say,  "Well  done,  thou 
36 


242  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

good  and  faithful  servant. "  "  Come  in,  thou  blessed  of 
my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom." 

In  closing  let  me  add  three  thoughts  as  to  how  this  work 
is  to  be  done.  We  are  agreed  that  it  should  be  done. 
We  have  been  remiss ;  we  confess  it  with  sorrow.  Now 
how  shall  it  be  done.     I  answer  : 

(i),  P7'ayerfnlly .  It  should  only  be  done,  it  can  only 
be  done,  this.  Prayer  is  the  only  preparation  which  can 
avail ;  not  our  eloquence,  or  learning,  or  skill  in  urging, 
but  only  that  "power  with  God  and  men"  which  comes 
through  much  prayer  can  give  success  here.  One  of  the 
old  Puritan  fathers  has  well  expressed  this  truth  in  the 
words :  "  First,  go  plead  with  God  for  men,  and  then  go 
plead  with  men  for  God."  Prayer,  prayer  alone  unlocks 
the  door  and  opens  the  way. 

(2),  It  must  be  done  ea77iestly.  It  is  no  matter  for  idle 
conversation.  If  you  would  impress  others  you  must  be 
deeply  impressed  yourself ;  if  you  would  move  them  you 
must  be  moved.  Nothing  is  so  quickly  recognized  as  a 
deep  and  sincere  interest  in  one's  welfare,  temporal  or 
eternal.  Let  this  be  seen;  under  God  it  will  win  its 
way. 

(3),  It  should  be  done  at  07ice.  While  we  neglect  and 
put  off  our  duty  to  friends  about  us,  they  are  passing 
away  out  of  our  sight  one  by  one ;  there  are  few  of  us,  I 
suppose,  who  have  not  felt  the  sting  of  reproach  for  such 
neglect.  "  Let  him  that  heareth  say.  Come !''  Let  him 
say  it  at  once,  ere  it  is  too  late.  When  John  Wesley 
was  asked  by  Sophia  Cooke  *  *  how  she  should  live, "  he  is 
said  to  have  replied,  '' live  to-day.''  Yes,  "redeem  the 
time. "  "  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with 
thy  might  for  there  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor  know- 
ledge, nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave,  whither  thou  goest." 


JOSEPH  OF  ARIMATHFA* 

THE  CHRISTIAN  OUTSIDE  OF  HURCH. 


BY  REV.  JOHN  A.   PRESTC 
Past 07'  of  the  First,  Presbyterian  C/w- 


Uf.  N,  C. 


-'  And  after  these  things  JosejMi.  r.i 
of  Jesus,  but  secretly  for  fear  of  the 
might  take  away  the  body  of  Jesus. ' 
in  boldly  unto  Pilate,  and  craved  the  ; 


mg  K  tnscipie 

EMlate  that  he 

"And  went 

-Mark  XV.  43. 

he  dictate  of 


RESPECTABLE  burial   ; 
enlightened  friendshi' 
are  not  older  than   t 
friends  to  lay  their  dead    > 
V'Mt'ci  not  receive  the  cav^ 
preferred  the  inalienable  titL 
to  Machpelah  v. as  not  too  loii> 
journey   at   the   ^kr^h    of  Jacob  , 
Joseph,     preserved      J  r m  ii     centi. 
through   the  entire  be  laid 

tomb. 

Nor  was  this  instinct  confined  to  C.Ki;-.  people, 
ancients,  in  some  cases,  even  went  so  far  as  to  condition 
immortal  blessedness  upon  burial  on  earth  ;  and  one  of 
the  most  stirring  of  the  Greek  tragetii*::.-.  has  as  its  pivotal 

*  A  word  as  to  the  suggestion  of  this  topic  may  not  be  out  of 
place ;  I  was  riding,  some  years  Mg;;.  through  one  of  the  grand 
old  country  congregations  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia.  The  de- 
voted pastor  pointed  to  an  attractive  farm-home,  shaded  by 
ancient  trees,  and  said.  '  *  There  lives  one  of  our  best  Christians, 
but  he  is  a  Joseph  of  Arimathea."     I  have  since  seen  and  plead 

;th  many  •      '        '     '     " 


■ace 

..   of 

)raham 

l.mt 

funeral 
■nes  of 
canned 
icestral 

The 


244  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

point  the  heroic  determination  of  a  sister  to  brave  the 
king  and  his  death-threat,  and  to  throw  the  needed 
handful  of  earth  upon  the  body  of  her  brother.  That 
this  sentiment  has  lost  not  one  whit  of  its  power  in 
modern  times,  the  tears  shed  and  the  money  expended 
at  the  graves  of  our  loved  ones  abundantly  prove. 

And  we  are  peculiarly  impressed  by  any  attention 
paid  to  our  dead.  Many  a  stranger,  in  our  own  land, 
has  made  a  lasting  friend  of  the  old  father  by  taking  the 
boy,  slain  in  battle,  and  giving  him  decent  burial.  Pos- 
sibly the  exigencies  of  the  times  forbade  more  than  an 
undressed  pine  coffin,  still  the  old  man  remembers,  upon 
his  death-bed,  to  charge  his  children  if  ever  they  shall 
meet  the  stranger  to  be  kind  to  him  who  had  been  kind 
to  them  and  theirs. 

This  debt  every  Christian  owes  to  the  man  whose  life 
we  are  considering,  Joseph  of  Arimathea.  He  kept 
Christ's  body  from  being  thrown  unburied  into  the  valley 
of  Hinnom,  or  if  even  lightly  buried,  yet  from  being  un- 
earthed and  devoured  by  starveling  dogs.  The  very 
thought  makes  the  lover  of  the  Lord  shudder,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  destruction  of  prophecy.  This  man  saved 
our  adorable  Lord's  body  from  the  felon's  fate  and  gave 
it  the  burial  of  friendship.  We  can  linger  but  a  moment 
over  this  solemn  scene.  What  a  contradiction  in  terms  ! 
That  he  should  die  who  was  himself  the  author  of  life, 
yea,  life  itself!  It  is  the  best  illustration  possible  of  the 
indestructibility  of  faith,  that  these  Christians  could 
handle  the  dead  hands,  and  touch  the  dead  person,  and 
yet  say,  my  Lord.  Not  having  the  key  to  this  mystery, 
Christ's  death  to  them  seemed  the  utter  overthrow  both 
of  their  hopes  and  of  the  truth  of  the  Lord's  words,  and 
yet  then,  as  often  since,  faith  refused  to  surrender  to 
perplexity. 


JOSEPH  OF  ARIMATHEA.  245 

The  scene  was  probably  not  as  we  have  pictured  it,  a 
taking  down  from  the  cross,  for  Rubens'  famous  picture 
probably  halts  in  this  respect ;  but  it  was  rather  with  the 
cross  prone  upon  the  ground,  while  trembling  hands  first 
draw  the  nails,  then  wash  the  wounds,  then  wrap  the 
body  and  the  precious  head  in  fine  linen  inlaid  with 
spices ;  and  then  these  ministering  men  and  women 
disappear  with  the  precious  burden,  for  time  presses. 
Of  the  burial  of  Moses  it  has  been  said,  ' '  That  was  the 
grandest  funeral  that  ever  passed  on  earth,"  but  this  one 
must  be  excepted.  Alone  and  unique  in  the  history  of 
all  time  was  this  burial  of  the  Lord  of  glory.  As  he 
had  come  into  the  world  unheralded,  so  was  he  buried, 
with  no  requiem  save  the  sob  of  the  weeping  women. 
As  those  highly-privileged  ones  carry  their  precious 
burden  to  lay  it  in  a  new  rock-hewn  tomb,  we  allow 
them  to  disappear,  and  turn  our  attention  to  the  insti- 
gator and  chief  actor  in  the  scene,  Joseph  of  Arimathea. 

The  notices  of  him  are  scant.  Nothing  is  known  of 
his  previous  history.  Probably  he  had  yielded  to  the 
impulse  so  potent  in  our  own  day,  and  had  left  his  ob- 
scure village  for  the  larger  business  opportunities  of  the 
city.  But  few  as  are  the  lines  devoted  to  the  history  of 
this  man,  there  are  several  exceedingly  significant  state- 
ments. Joseph  was  probably  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrin, 
the  great  court  of  the  Jews,  deprived  at  that  time,  indeed, 
of  its  power,  but  not  of  its  august  authority  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Jews.  Then  Joseph  was  rich  ;  from  the  emphasis 
given,  he  was  probably  very  rich;  relatively  speaking, 
he  was  a  Jerusalem  millionaire.  But  he  had  not  been 
seduced  by  his  money,  for  he  was  righteous.  Nor  did 
his  goodness  stop  here,  for  he  was  religious,  and  not 
only  did  he  fear  Jehovah,  but  he  had  first  waited  for,  and 
then  accepted  the  Messiah.     Thus  this  man  possessed 


246  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

money,  position,  and  character,  that  enviable  trio  of  gifts, 
and,  best  of  all,  faith  in  Christ.  Brief  as  the  record  is,  we 
already  see  that  Joseph  is  a  marked  man.  But  we  have 
yet  to  mention  that  which  should  give  him  a  place  among 
the  world's  heroes,  his  splendid  courage.  The  danger 
was  so  intense  that  even  the  bold  Peter  shrank  from  the 
cross  ;  indeed,  no  one  of  the  followers  of  Christ,  save  only 
John,  whose  love  could  not  be  daunted,  dared  mingle 
with  that  blood-thirsty  crowd,  and  even  John  was  wisely 
quiet.  But  this  man  went  boldly  to  Pilate  and  asked 
to  be  permitted  to  honor  the  man  whom  the  crowd  had 
just  murdered,  thereby  accusing  every  one  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  crucifixion  of  being  a  murderer.  Espe- 
cially would  this  act  on  the  part  of  a  member  of  the  San- 
hedrin  be  an  insult  to  those  Pharisees  and  rulers  who 
had  led  the  murderous  mob. 

Joseph  imperilled  his  all  by  this  act.  His  place  as  a 
ruler  he  absolutely  forfeited ;  he  could  never  again  meet 
with  the  Sanhedrin.  Should  he  ever  presume  to  attend 
its  meeting,  it  would  happen  to  him  as  to  Cataline  in  the 
Roman  Senate,  that  all  men  would  shrink  from  him  and 
leave  him  alone.  Thus  Joseph  threw  away  the  highest 
position  within  reach  of  his  ambition.  And  then  his 
great  wealth  was  also  exposed  to  robbers.  In  Ben  Hur 
we  have  probably  an  accurate  picture  of  the  peril  in 
which  property  stood  when  the  owner  had  fallen  under 
suspicion.  The  greedy  Roman  officials  were  all  too 
eager  and  able  to  combine  with  local  enemies  and  filch 
away  the  wealth  they  so  lusted  for.  There  was  thus 
every  reason  for  Joseph  to  fear  that  his  act  would  im- 
poverish him.  More  than  this,  his  very  life  was  en- 
dangered. How  easy  for  those  Pharisees  who  had 
maddened  the  mob  by  the  cry,  "crucify  him,"  to  point 
to  the  home  of  Joseph  and  say,    "crucify  him.''      Espe- 


JOSEPH  OF  ARIMATHEA.  247 

cially  does  this  splendid  act  of  courage  move  us  when  we 
remember  that  it  was  not  under  the  impulse  of  passion, 
or  moved  by  the  hope  of  renown,  but  ior  pure  p7 inciple' s 
sake.  The  deeds  which  have  called  out  the  world's 
shout  of  admiration  have  usually  looked  to  this  applause 
and  have  been  inspired  by  it.  In  one  of  the  famous 
naval  battles  of  old,  spectators  lined  the  shore  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  reach,  so  that  even  the  coward  felt 
himself  a  hero,  for  the  eyes  of  the  world  were  upon 
him.  We  are  made  to  believe  that  old  Horatius  stand- 
ing at  the  bridge's  mouth  in  the  early  dawn  of  his- 
tory, though  he  dared  not  look  around,  yet  felt  that 
all  Rome  was  looking  on,  and  that  his  wife  stood  upon 
the  porch  of  their  home  a  spectator  of  the  deeds  of 
her  husband;  and  that  his  was  his  country's  cause,  for 
was  he  not  ready  to  die  for  '  *  the  ashes  of  his  fathers  and 
the  temple  of  his  gods  ' '  ?  But  this  man,  Joseph,  had 
none  of  these  incentives.  No  martial  music  stirred  his 
blood,  no  tattered  banner  fired  his  imagination,  no  praise 
for  which  to  hope,  but  only  contempt.  As  this  man  sat 
in  his  home  awaiting  the  hour,  he  could  see  that  dis- 
grace would  fall  upon  his  family ;  men  would  curse  his 
very  memory,  as  they  had  done  that  of  Jereboam,  son  of 
Nebat.  There  was  nothing  to  inspire,  but  everything 
to  discourage,  and  yet  he  went  forward,  sacrificing 
wealth,  position,  and  very  life  if  need  be,  for  pure  pfi7i- 
ciple'  s  sake.  As  we  erect  statues  to  the  great  men  of  the 
past,  might  not  a  modest  statue  point  to  the  memory  of 
the  man  who  held  duty  above  the  opinion  of  friends  or 
considerations  of  safety  ? 

But  as  much  as  we  admire  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  yet 
when  we  remember  what  he  left  7cndone  we  are  tempted 
to  forget  what  he  did.  He  refused  to  confess  Christ  during 
his  life ;  he  buried  the  Lord  when  dead,  but  took  no  part 


248  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

in  his  work.  And  the  Saviour  needed  jus  f  such  a  friend 
as  Joseph :  when  the  contemptuous  question  was  asked, 
' '  have  any  of  the  rulers  believed  on  him  ? ' '  this  man 
should  have  been  the  answer.  What  strength  he  would 
have  been  to  the  disciples,  and  what  comfort  to  the  Lord. 
To  think  of  his  shutting  his  door  against  the  wear}^ 
Christ  on  those  evenings  when  the  Son  of  man  had  not 
where  in  Jerusalem  to  lay  his  head,  but  must  needs  go  to 
Bethany  for  sympathy  and  shelter.  He  may  have  been 
a  great  man,  but  it  is  hard,  indeed,  to  forgive  him  for 
his  neglect  of  our  Saviour.  As  we  exercise  the  sweet 
privilege  of  hospitality,  how  often  we  wish  we  could  have 
had  the  Master  under  our  humble  roof.  To  think  of  a 
believer,  who  could  have  done  so,  and  yet  would  not 
entertain  the  Lord,  and  that  in  the  hour  of  the  Master's 
need !  To  think  of  this  man  standing  by  and  hearing 
the  rude  Jews  jeering  the  Lord  without  taking  the 
Master's  part!  Shame  upon  such  a  man  and  shame 
upon  his  memory !  He  did  much,  but  he  left  more 
undone ! 

From  the  violent  contrasts  of  this  striking  history, 
three  pointed  truths  claim  attention — 

I.  The  first  is  a  sweet  and  most  consoling  lesson  : 
That  there  is  salvation  outside  of  the  visible  church,  Joseph 
was  a  true  Christian,  and  had  he  died  before  his  great  act 
he  would  have  been  saved.  We  believe  many  do  thus  die. 
An  earnest  Christian  once  asked  the  speaker  not  again 
to  make  this  statement,  lest  it  confirm  souls  in  the  sin  of 
neglecting  church  membership,  but  the  preacher  is  not 
responsible  for  the  influence  of  truth  ;  and  this  is  truth, 
and  consoling  truth.  For  are  there  not  many  whose 
memories  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  enjoy  the 
thought  of  heaven,  lest  they  should  be  lonely  there? 
Now  if  the  loved  ones,  already  gone  before,  were  not 


JOSEPH  OF  ARIMATHEA.  249 

Christians,  then  a  merciful  God  help  you  to  bear  this 
heaviest  earthly  sorrow,  and  he  will !  But  if  these 
loved  ones  were  Christians,  only  not  professing  Chris- 
tians, does  it  not  lift  a  crushing  weight  from  the  heart 
to  hear  that  in  the  olden  times  there  was  a  true  disciple, 
but  one  secretly,  for  fear  of  the  Jews? 

II.  The  second  lesson  is  almost  in  the  teeth  of  the  first. 
It  is:  That  however  God  may  forgive,  ?iothing  can  excuse 
the  neglect  of  church  membership ;  with  double  emphasis 
upon  the  negative — Nothing  can  excuse !  And  by 
church  membership  we  do  not  mean  simply  enrolment 
in  the  church,  nor  a  passing  expression  of  faith — Joseph 
once  voted  for  Christ — but  whole-souled  consecration  to 
the  work.  In  these  days  of  easy  profession  the  outer 
circle  of  the  church  is  naturally  large  ;  many  uncon- 
verted, and  many  converted  but  unconsecrated ;  while 
the  true  church  is  the  inner  circle,  who  are  making  an 
honest  effort  to  give  Christ  their  all.  Now  we  repeat 
our  proposition,  that  nothing  can  excuse  a  true  believer 
from  at  once  taking  a  stand  within  this  inner  circle.  The 
battle  has  been  joined,  and  we  must  stand  upon  one  side 
or  the  other.  It  is  for  Christ  or  against  Christ.  If  we 
will  not  take  one  stand,  the  devil  claims  us  for  his  own 
and  gains  all  the  credit.  A  solemn  statement  upon  this 
point  fell  from  our  Saviour's  lips,  *'He  that  is  not  with 
me  is  against  me,  and  he  that  gathereth  not  with  me 
scattereth  abroad"  ;  where  not  simply  the  act  of  being 
on  Christ's  side  is  made  necessary,  but  we  must  belong 
to  the  ha} vestifig -force ,  otherwise  we  undo  his  work.  It 
is  admitted  that  it  is  not  fair  for  Satan  to  claim  the  influ- 
ence of  a  secret  Christian,  but  what  cares  he  for  fair 
means  or  foul?  The  fact  is  undeniable;  a  father  may 
go  from  his  knees  to  the  sanctuary,  but  if  he  does  not 
take  his  seat  with  the  communicants  how  can  he  expect 


250  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

his  son  to  consider  him  a  Christian?  Is  it  not  entirely 
possible  that  the  sons  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea  took  part 
in  the  crucifixion  and  dyed  their  hands  in  the  blood  of 
the  father's  Christ?  What  had  their  father  ever  done  to 
show  his  allegiance  to  the  Nazarene?  No  parents  need 
expect  the  conversion  of  their  children  if  they  neglect 
church  membership  ;  and  even  if  one  parent  is  a  devoted 
Christian,  yet  the  children  are  naturally  inclined  to  follow 
the  one  whose  life  is  such  as  their  unrenewed  hearts 
love.  We  believe  that  fathers  who  either  neglect  the 
duty  of  church  membership,  or  who  live  formal  church 
lives,  are  responsible  for  unsaved  children !  The  same 
is  true  of  every  relationship  which  gives  influence.  The 
head  of  a  mercantile  or  manufacturing  establishment,  or 
one  holding  any  part  of  trust  in  these  great  enterprises, 
is  directly  responsible  for  this  influence.  The  church  is 
the  great  means  of  witness-bearing,  and  work  in  the 
church,  for  instance,  the  Sabbath-school  work,  devotion 
to  the  sick,  liberality  and  regularity,  all  have  a  far  wider 
influence  than  the  visible  results  ;  for  whenever  the  un- 
saved think  of  religion,  the  life  of  their  business  supe- 
rior enters  as  a  helping  factor.  It  makes  it  easier  to 
love  Christ  and  lead  a  pure  life  :  the  influence  is  on  the 
right  side.  On  the  other  hand,  how  natural  for  a  factory 
girl  to  dismiss  religious  convictions  when  she  meets  her 
employer  upon  the  street  and  recognizes  in  him  one  who 
has  taken  no  stand  for  Christ.  The  devil  very  gladly 
suggests  that  this  man  has  had  the  time  and  opportunity 
for  investigation,  and  that  if  he  is  not  a  Christian  there 
can  be  no  reality  in  religion.  This  is  a  deadly  influence, 
and  there  is  no  mode  of  escape  save  a  hearty  profession 
of  Christ.  This  influence  is  probably  more  potent  in  the 
case  of  teachers  in  our  schools  and  colleges  than  in  any 
other  work,  and  for  obvious  reasons ;  but  we  forbear  ; 


JOSEPH  OF  ARIMATHEA.  25 1 

suffice  it  to  say  that  a  student  cannot  learn  sufficient 
mathematics  to  calculate,  or  language  to  state  the  harm 
a  non-professing  teacher  will  do  in  a  life- time,  by  un- 
settling the  convictions  of  students  at  the  critical  time  of 
their  lives.  While  blessed  is  the  memory  of  those  teach- 
ers, who,  while  worshipping  in  the  temple  of  learning, 
acknowledge  no  king  but  Jesus  ! 

It  is.  however,  when  we  remember  that  this  influence 
is  not  only  certainly  hostile,  but  that  it  destroys  the  im- 
mortal part  of  man,  that  we  see  the  full  strength  of  the 
case ;  and  if  additional  argument  were  needed  we  have 
only  to  remember  the  insult  to  Christ,  the  unpardonable 
neglect  of  his  precious  love.  We  condemn  Joseph  of 
Arimathea  for  neglecting  the  Lord,  but  we  know  more 
fully  and  see  far  more  clearly  than  he  the  merits  of  the 
great  Christ.  To  accept  his  wonderous  redemption  and 
yet  be  afraid  to  acknowledge  the  giver  is  base  ingrati- 
tude. Nor  can  there  be  any  excuse  or  reason  for  delay ; 
for  we  are  not  arguing  with  unbelievers,  but  with  those 
who  already  believe.  We  return  to  the  statement  that 
it  is  unpardonable  ingratitude  to  Christ,  and  cruel  injus- 
tice to  any  within  the  circle  of  your  influence,  not  to  stand 
out  at  once  and  boldly.  Nothing  can  excuse  this  sin. 
This  whole  truth  may  find  fitting  expression  in  a  case 
which  occurred  in  one  of  the  quiet  God-loving  homes  of 
our  church.  The  gentleman  was  an  earnest  Christian, 
but  a  Joseph  of  Arimathea  ;  in  answer  to  his  wife  and 
pastor  when  they  urged  him  to  join  the  church,  he  plead 
the  fact  that  he  was  not  in  exact  doctrinal  accord  with 
the  church  he  attended,  and  it  was  his  wont  to  add, 
**  after  all  the  Christian  life  is  an  inward  one,  and  I 
strive  to  live  that  life."  But  after  this  Christian  had 
grown  old  outside  of  the  church,  a  young  man  came  to 
him  and  said  that  he  had  thought  of  being  a  Christian^ 


252  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

but  had  concluded  to  follow  his  example.  Imagine  the 
shock  to  this  godl}^  man  :  follow  his  example,  and  reject 
Christ !  The  very  next  Sunday  the  man  not  simply 
asked  to  be  received  into  the  church,  but  demanded  it. 
He  could  scarcely  wait  the  week  out !  And  thus  he 
testified  to  this  one  young  man  that  he  was  not  against 
Christ ;  but  could  he  go  back  over  the  past  fifty  years  of 
his  life  and  undo  what  those  years  had  done,  or  speak 
to  the  many  young  men  whom  his  example  had  influ- 
enced !  We  are  convinced  that  many  make  the  irre- 
trievable mistake  and  that  theirs  is  the  experience  of 
another  Joseph  of  Arimathea.  When  dying  he  drew^  his 
pastor  close  to  him,  and,  with  almost  his  last  breath, 
said,  "I  go  to  heaven,  for  I  have  for  years  trusted 
Christ,  but  oh!  that  I  had  confessed  him."  NotJmig 
can  excuse  this  sin,  nor  can  there  be  any  valid  reason  for 
postponement. 

III.  There  is  yet  another  lesson  enfolded  in  this  his- 
tory :  Joseph  was  hindered  by  fear,  and  it  is  still  fear 
which  prevents  confessio7i  and  destroys  Christian  testitnony. 
We  seem  to  have  here  a  decided  inconsistency.  We 
have  just  spoken  of  Joseph  as  a  hero  of  splendid  courage, 
while  now  we  charge  him  with  cowardice.  But  is  not 
this  the  paradox  of  the  human  heart?  Inhere  are  man\' 
men  among  us  who  have  proven  their  courage  on  the 
field  of  battle.  Their  bravery  has  gone  upon  record,  and 
even  if  they  should  have  the  good  sense  to  decline  a  score 
of  foolish  duels,  no  one  could  dare  call  them  cowards; 
and  yet  these  dauntless  heroes  are  afraid  to  attempt 
family  worship  ;  and  that,  too,  when  there  would  be  no 
hostile  audience,  as  the  overjoyed  wife  gathered  the  chil- 
dren around  their  fireside.  And  yet  the  hero  of  half  a 
hundred  battles  is  afraid  ! 

This  paradox  of  the  human  heart  is  all  too  apparent. 


JOSEPH  OF  ARIMATHEA.  253 

We  believe  Christians  would  still  die  for  their  faith ;  that 
if  the  enginery  of  hell  was  again  set  in  motion,  those 
inventions  of  Satan  to  crush  the  foot,  torture  the  hand, 
draw  apart  the  limbs  in  slowness  of  exquisite  torture,  or 
burn  the  body ;  that  if  the  hell-inspired  Inquisition  was 
upon  us,  if  the  air  was  shattered  by  the  shrieks  of  our 
own  family ;  that  yet,  rather  than  curse  Christ,  we  would 
die!  Rather  than  take  any  of  the  Inquisition's  hideous 
forms  of  blasphemous  recantation  upon  our  lips,  we 
would  submit  even  to  these  hell-devised  tortures.  And 
yet  we  are  afraid  to  speak  for  Christ.  We  are  afraid  to 
testify  in  our  daily  lives.  This  sad  failure  was  aptly 
expressed  by  a  Christian  woman.  I  asked  her  to  try 
and  reach  a  poor  old  woman,  whom  I  had  failed  to 
interest.  This  Christian  woman  said,  '*I  cannot  speak 
to  her ;  I  do  love  Jesus,  but  I  am  such  a  coward  in  the  lit- 
tle things, ' '  This  was  precisely  the  failure  with  Joseph ; 
rather  than  see  his  Lord's  body  thrown  to  the  dogs,  he 
would  die — would  face  a  mob  of  devils,  but  he  shrank 
from  the  gaze  of  the  Sanhedrin  or  the  smile  upon  the 
streets.  Brave  at  a  crisis,  but  a  coward  in  little  things; 
and  in  this  we  all  fail ;  men  who  would  die  for  Christ  are 
even  afraid  of  the  church  session  as  it  meets  to  welcome 
Christ's  children  to  his  fold.  We  hold  our  finger  just 
here  upon  the  weakness  of  the  church ;  our  testimony  is 
deadened  through  our  cowardice  in  little  things.  We 
need  to  learn  the  lesson  of  a  blind  girl  during  the  days 
of  later  Rome  :  several  drunken  ruffians  are  said  to  have 
stopped  her  before  a  statue  of  the  emperor  and  com- 
manded her  to  kneel  and  worship.  The  child's  simple 
answer  was,  "we  kneel  to  no  one  but  Jesus";  nor 
would  she  yield,  although  those  fiends  crushed  her  poor 
body  with  brutal  stones.  It  is  an  immortal  lesson,  to 
have  courage  in  small  things  and  great ;  to  kneel  to  no 
one  but  Jesus. 


254  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

We  leave  this  striking  life-story  with  this  pleasing 
thought :  its  great  mistake  was  made  good  before  it  was 
too  late.  While  Joseph  could  not  recall  the  priceless 
opportunity  of  ministering  to  the  Son  of  God  during  the 
days  of  his  earthly  humiliation  and  need,  yet  he  did  come 
out  boldly  at  the  last ;  and  when  he  was  again  ushered 
into  that  august  presence,  he  came  not  as  a  lean,  barren 
soul,  but  was  welcomed  by  the  angels  as  one  of  the 
privileged  few  who  had  been  permitted  to  take  part  on 
the  Lord's  side  in  the  great  tragedy  which  culminated 
at  Calvary. 

The  aim  of  this  discourse  has  been  to  plead  with  you 
to  follow  the  same  course ;  to  come  out  before  it  is  too 
late.  It  is  a  plain  step.  Many  truths  which  are  pressed 
by  the  preacher  are  beset  with  perplexity  in  their  appli- 
cation. Not  so  this ;  the  need  is  a  simple,  straight- 
forward step  of  duty.  Take  your  stand  decidedly  within 
the  inner  circle  of  the  church;  undertake  her  work; 
bear  her  burdens ;  share  her  disappointments ;  and  you 
shall  enjoy  her  rewards. 


THE  STRIVING  SPIRIT 


BY  REV.   ROBERT 
-tor  of  tki'  First  Presbyr, 


Kh 


iv(y  :-.].; 


11  ^hall  not  always 


N  the  sixth  chapter  '^'*  ' 
the  imposing  soeot;^ 
with   a  wi 


set  before  us 
nrit  striving- 
Mil   had 
r>'  kind 
.   become 

'■:   OUp  of 

lo  press 
in  to  its 
;e  wrath 


tidn  upon  the  I 

But  though  \ii<  iiad  been  t,tcaJ>' 

and  rapid,  it  had  .  -  uination  v/ithout 

divine  interference  wretched  criminahty 

there  had  been  present  auci  acuvt^  among-  men  the  august 
[jeisonality  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  text  Ufts  the  veil 
•vUlch  hides  the  unseen,  and  we  behold,  from  the  divine 
s^  -y,  a  progress  which  had  not  gone  on  ir 

•  e.     God  the  Holy  Ghost  placed  himsv: 

iS  terrible  defection  of  the  world  from  truth 
aiic]  .iwiilcousness.  The  men  of  that  day  and  tM' ir 
fatllei-s  had  travelled  far  from   all    '.hit  \>  good,  but  .  t 

very  step  they  had  been  confroni  apposed  1>    '^ 

tliv  ne  barrier.      Over  God's 


!ie|    h-ui  trod,  and  in  spite  of 


256  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

love  they  had  progressed  until  they  reached  a  height  of 
crime  that  lifted  its  face  into  the  very  presence  of  the 
majesty  of  heaven. 

It  may  be  asked,  How  could  man  surpass  resisting 
omnipotence?  How  could  man  overcome  God?  The 
answer  is  easy.  Man  is  not  a  puppet,  without  power  of 
choice ;  he  is  not  a  beast,  without  intellect,  soul,  con- 
science. He  is  a  free  moral  agent  originally  imaged 
after  God ;  and  his  Maker  has  never  forced  him  against 
his  will  to  do  anything  good.  This  would  be  to  unmake 
man,  to  degrade  him  to  a  brute.  God  respects  man  in 
his  freedom,  nor  does  he  seek  a  slavish  service  of  the 
soul.  In  later  times  Christ,  at  the  threshold  of  man's 
volition,  declares,  ' '  Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock. ' ' 
So  in  the  days  before  the  flood  the  Holy  Ghost  strove 
with  man,  but  did  not  force  his  will. 

How  great  the  rebelliousness  of  mankind  was  may  be 
estimated  from  what  it  was  able  to  overcome.  For  in 
the  gigantic  struggle  with  divine  grace  they  came  off 
winners,  gaining  for  themselves  by  this  overmastery  the 
victory  of  black  and  awful  success. 

This  could  not  continue  forever.  The  Spirit  would 
not  be  insulted  with  perpetual  impunity.  God's  wrath 
is  aroused,  and  over  the  heads  of  men  fall  those  pregnant 
words,  "My  Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man." 
The  world  had  lived  out  its  probation,  and  the  hour  was 
set  on  the  dial-plate  of  time  for  the  destruction  of  the 
human  race  by  a  catastrophe  the  most  stupendous  that 
history  records.  The  Spirit  departed ;  grieved,  he  turned 
away,  and  the  blow  fell  in  swift  retributive  justice  upon 
mankind,  in  the  flood  by  which  all  perished  except  the 
family  of  one  righteous  man. 

Hew  did  the  Spirit  strive  then,  and  how  does  he  strive 
with  men  to-day  ? 


THE  STRIVING  SPIRIT.  257 

It  was,  and  is,  by  the  use  of  the  whole  apparatus  of  the 
universe;  in  other  words,  by  the  use  of  everything  that 
is.  The  powers  of  nature  show  in  turn  the  goodness 
and  the  wrath  of  God.  Does  calm  sunshine  mean 
nothing  ?  Is  there  no  lesson  in  the  sunset ;  no  invita- 
tion in  the  yellow  harvest- fields  ?  Have  all  the  joys  of 
life  no  heavenly  undertone  of  love  and  mercy  ? 

Yea,  and  tempest,  disease,  fire,  famine,  death  ;  is  there 
no  warning  in  them  to  listening  minds?  Nature  tells 
us  in  unmistakable  utterance  that  whatsoever  a  man 
soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap.  Surely,  she  says,  sin 
against  law  means  misery,  sorrow,  and  death.  God  has 
put  a  voice  in  everything  that  he  has  made,  from  glitter- 
ing star  to  lily,  rose,  or  wheat-sheaf;  in  disease,  light- 
ning flash,  death,  and  even  hell,  to  tell  men  that  sin 
must  have  its  awful  fruition  and  punishment.  All  this 
prodigious  universe,  thrilled  with  the  living  presence  of 
the  eternal  Spirit,  throws  its  barrier  across  the  path  that 
leads  away  from  God  and  truth.  It  was  so  before  the 
flood;  it  is  so  to-day. 

Then,  also,  God  had  living  witnesses.  He  has  never 
been  without  some  to  rebuke  a  wicked  and  perverse 
world.  By  example  and  by  preached  word  the  Spirit 
strove  to  recall  the  prodigal  race  of  man.  A  line  of 
preachers  extends  back  in  unbroken  procession  from  this 
day  to  the  gates  of  Paradise.  Men  have  not  been  left  to 
the  mute  testimony  of  nature  alone,  nor  the  foreign  in- 
terference of  angels,  but  they  have  had  witnesses  for 
God  of  their  own  flesh,  and  blood,  and  kindred.  There 
have  always  been,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
men  to  preach  to  men;  men  to  strive,  and  pray,  and 
weep  over  the  iniquity  of  their  fellows.  Noah  and  his 
predecessors  preached  righteousness  to  their  contempo- 
raries, and  Noah's  successors  have  never  ceased  thus  to 


258  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

preacli,  from  the  time  of  the  flood  to  this  hour,  when  by 
the  Spirit's  appointment  souls  are  warned,  by  human 
voices,  to  fly  from  the  wrath  to  come. 

In  our  time  the  magnificent  institution  of  a  gospel 
church,  that  touches  every  shore  and  nation,  preaches 
from  ten  thousand  pulpits,  and  from  house  to  house,  the 
truths  of  responsibility,  judgment  to  come,  and  mercy 
through  the  cross.  These  are  preached,  and  prayed,  and 
sung  in  the  hearing  of  millions.  On  the  myriad  pages 
of  journal  and  bound  volume  Christ  is  set  forth,  and 
civilization  is  but  the  rostrum  for  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel. 

Is  not  all  this  a  striving  of  God's  Spirit?  Never  since 
the  gospel  promise  blazed  over  Eden's  wreck  has  he  put 
forth  such  energies  for  the  resistance  of  evil,  and  the 
salvation  of  sinners. 

But  what  of  words  and  example  in  the  sphere  of  pri- 
vate life?  Take  we  no  account  of  a  devout  father's  life 
and  admonitions  ;  of  the  teachings  of  a  gentle,  believing 
mother,  at  whose  knees  we  learned  our  earliest  prayer? 
Are  not  these  and  all  the  gracious  influences  by  which 
loved  ones  have  sought  to  win  us  for  God  and  heaven 
the  very  doing  of  the  Holy  Spirit?  They  are,  and  his 
power  is  present  in  all  of  them.  His  influence  touches 
us  at  every  point  of  life's  varied  story. 

Leave  now  all  consideration  of  these  external  means. 
Shut  out  the  world,  and  in  thy  inmost  soul  sit  down, 
where  only  the  heart  beats,  and  conscience  whispers. 
Is  not  this  the  Holy  Spirit's  agent  also?  Yes,  and 
above,  behind,  and  under  conscience  there  is  his  voice 
itself.  God  the  Holy  Ghost  breathes  upon  the  soul. 
You  know  this,  you  have  felt  it;  yes,  and  alas!  you 
have  resisted  it.  Unconverted  man,  you  have  resisted  it 
as  many  days  as  you  have  lived  since  the  dawn  of  moral 


THE  STRIVING  SPIRIT.  259 

consciousness  ;  and,  it  must  be  added,  you  have  resisted 
successfully. 

Shall  this  resistance  and  this  striving  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  go  on  forever?  No.  It  shall  not  go  on  perpetu- 
ally with  the  world,  with  any  nation,  or  any  single  soul. 
The  striving  of  the  Spirit  has  an  end.  A  day  comes 
when  it  is  all  over,  and  the  soul  is  forsaken  forever  to  its 
own  chosen  lot  and  fate. 

This  always  occurs  at  the  death  of  the  unbelieving  and 
impenitent.  Death  ends  the  conflict.  Probation  is  only 
in  time.  The  Holy  Spirit  has  no  work  in  hell  to  save 
the  lost.  Of  time,  it  may  undoubtedly  be  said :  It  is 
NOW  OR  NEVER.  The  funeral  of  the  body  is  sad  enough, 
but  what  shall  we  say  of  the  funeral  of  a  lost  soul?  No 
angels  to  bear  it  singing  to  eternal  rest,  but  only  the 
fellowship  of  the  doomed  and  hopeless.  He  does  not 
always  wait  for  the  end  of  life.  The  striving  Spirit 
sometimes  leaves  the  resisting  soul  long  before  death. 
There  is  a  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  which  no 
prayer  is  commanded  to  be  offered,  which  no  penitential 
tears  can  follow,  and  upon  which  no  pardoning  grace  can 
ever  fall. 

Though  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  is  a  matter 
shrouded  in  mystery,  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Pharisees  committed  it  when  they  said  of  Jesus,  "This 
fellow  doth  not  cast  out  devils  but  by  Beelzebub,  the 
prince  of  devils. ' '  The  gracious  miracles  of  healing  done 
by  our  Lord  in  driving  demons  from  the  breasts  of  men, 
the  Pharisees  ascribed  to  a  partnership  with  Satan.  This 
was  a  sin  against  that  Holy  Spirit  by  whom  these  works 
of  mercy  were  performed. 

Just  how  this  sin  may  be  committed  it  is  impossible 
definitely  to  say.  In  general  terms  we  may  venture  to 
state  that  it  is  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 


26o  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

also  a  deliberate  and  persistent  rejection  of  his  presence 
and  influences,  though  we  cannot  point  out  the  definite 
acts  of  the  soul  by  which  this  is  done. 

rhe  most  dreadful  thing  we  know  in  this  world  is  the 
desertion  of  a  soul  by  the  Spirit.  The  fittest  symbol  of 
such  a  case  is  a  human  body  forsaken  by  the  soul.  The 
most  mournful  of  all  sights  is  that  of  a  corpse.  The 
tabernacle  of  the  mind  is  empty.  No  flash  of  thought 
lightens  the  eyes.  No  gleam  of  intelligence  illumines 
the  countenance.  The  silver  cord  is  loosed  and  the 
golden  bowl  is  broken.  The  wheel  is  broken  at  the 
cistern.  The  mansion  is  desolate,  untenanted,  and 
doom,  death,  decay,  are  written  all  over  it.  The  most 
melancholy  of  all  buildings  is  a  crumbling,  deserted 
house ;  and  as  we  gaze  upon  it,  the  mind  vibrates  be- 
tween the  present  desolation  and  the  past,  when  living 
forms  moved  and  happy  voices  sounded  within  its  walls. 

So  with  a  body  deserted  by  the  soul.  A  marble  statue, 
a  precise  counterfeit  of  the  body,  is  not  mournful,  because 
we  know  it  never  was  the  dwelling-place  of  mind  ;  but 
the  body  dead  stands  for  desertion,  and  we  grieve  to 
look  upon  it  because  it  has  lost  the  life  it  had. 

Thus  the  state  of  a  soul  bereft  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
mournful  because  of  its  awful  loss.  Within  it  once  the 
Holy  Spirit  dwelt.  Along  its  halls  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing passed  his  gracious  life  and  breath.  But  now  he  is 
gone,  and  gone  forever.  No  more  shall  holy  influence 
wrap  it  in  gentle  warmth.  No  more  shall  tender 
thoughts  of  God,  and  penitence  for  sin  be  felt  within  it. 
Nothing  now  is  left  but  a  deserted  moral  tenement,  a 
soul  doomed  to  decay  forevermore. 

In  view  of  sorrowful  meditations  like  these,  many  an 
anxious  heart  has  asked  itself  the  question:  Have  I 
committed  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  never 
forgiven  in  this  world  or  the  next? 


THE  STRIVING  SPIRIT.  26l 

Well,  let  us  see :  To  ask  the  question  sorrowfully, 
tenderly,  hoping  you  have  not  committed  this  sin,  this 
itself  furnishes  an  answer.  You  have  not,  or  you  would 
not  ask,  in  this  spirit,  the  question.  Have  you  any 
sorrow  for  sin  that  is  more  than  mere  regret  occasioned 
by  wounded  pride  or  fear  of  punishment?  any  longing 
for  salvation  and  peace  with  God?  Then  you  have  not 
sinned  away  the  Spirit.  The  reason  is  plain:  These 
tender  yearnings  are  the  Spirit's  own  work.  He  has 
not  left  you,  for  he  has  made  you  anxious  and  con- 
cerned about  your  soul. 

Let  us  see  what  ground  you  have  for  hope.  This 
anxiety  you  feel  about  your  soul  is  proof  that  you  may 
yet  be  saved.  Your  holy  guest  has  not  departed.  These 
tender  drawings  are  your  hope  of  salvation  and  blessed 
peace.  As  a  practical  question,  in  view  of  this,  what 
shall  you  do  to  be  saved? 

Give  way  to  the  Spirit's  drawings.  Cultivate  and 
cherish  his  influence  on  your  soul.  Strive  not  to  banish 
your  rising  sense  of  sinfulness.  Do  not  turn  ofi"  your 
thoughts  on  other  things,  and  try  to  quench  that  which  is 
bringing  you  to  repentance.  A  very  slender  silken  line 
is  fastened  to  your  heart,  and  by  it  he  is  drawing  you 
towards  life  and  light.     Do  not  break  this  gentle  fetter. 

Pray  for  yo2ir  ow7i  soid.  Have  you  ever  really  asked 
God  for  eternal  life?  Have  you  truly  and  sincerely 
sought  pardon  at  the  cross?  You  have  uttered  words, 
but  has  your  heart  prayed?  have  you  wrestled  with  God 
for  his  unspeakable  gift  ?  Certainly  j^ou  have  not,  if  you 
are  yet  away  from  God.  We  look  with  utmost  sorrow 
on  a  prayerless  person,  and  are  dismayed  to  think  of 
knees  that  never  bend  before  the  throne  of  grace,  and  of 
lips  that  never  open  to  utter  the  name  of  him  who  is  the 
giver  of  all  good.     Little  better  is  the  soulless  prayer, 


262  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN    PULPIT. 

the  petition    made  up  of   words,    without    feeling,    and 
without  faith. 

Do  the  things  he  suggests.  What  are  they  ?  Put  that 
besetting  sin  beneath  your  feet.  Is  there  some  darling 
thing  that  stands  in  your  heart  and  keeps  the  Holy  Spirit 
from  the  sway  he  seeks?  Turn  his  hateful  rival  out. 
It  is  more  than  folly  to  risk  eternal  Ufe  for  a  mere  plea- 
sure, and  that  one  which  is  unworthy  of  a  place  within 
your  breast. 

Seek  in  (rod's  holy  word  to  know  the  way  of  life. 
Here  are  the  teachings  to  point  you  to  pardon  and  peace. 
Read  it  to  know  the  truth,  not  from  habit,  nor  necessity, 
but  with  a  motive  to  learn  the  way  to  God.  Seek  the 
guidance  of  the  Spirit  as  you  read.  He  will  make  the 
word  a  living  power  in  your  soul,  and  the  very  light  of 
everlasting  life. 

The  soul  not  deserted  by  the  Holy  Ghost  has  great 
reason  to  hope,  and  this  hope  may  be  turned  at  once  into 
fact  and  sweet  fruition.  Your  soul  is  yet  his  abiding- 
place.  He  is  not  very  welcome ;  you  allow  rather  than 
invite  his  presence  ;  you  do  not  make  your  breast  his  home. 
He  is  but  a  visitor  whom  you  do  not  admit  to  intimacy. 
There  are  some  parts  of  your  soul  you  do  not  allow  him 
to  enter.  If  you  have  guests  in  any  room  which  you 
could  not  present  to  him,  bid  them  depart  at  once. 

Let  him  dominate  your  beliefs,  your  affections,  and 
your  will.  Say:  I  will  believe  the  things  he  teaches, 
will  love  the  things  he  loves,  will  do  the  things  that 
please  God,  and  my  will  shall  follow  the  promptings  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  He  will  assume  control  if  you  submit, 
and  will  undertake  a  work  of  renewing,  sanctifying 
power,  by  which  you  shall  be  cleansed  from  sin  and 
made  comformable  to  the  image  and  character  of  Christ. 
The  work  is  grace  and  the  end  will  be  glory. 


^ 


APIM.IED    CHRISTIAN  ITY. 

WHO  IS  MY  NEIGHBOR? 

BY  REV.   R.   K.  SMOOT. 
Pastor  of  the  Free  Presbyterian  Church, 


/viju,  uuiiold,  a  certain  lawyer  stood  ,■.•,!  ihtm. 

saying,  Master,  what  shall  I  do  co  inher.  He  said 

unto  him,  What  is  written  in  the  Ir-  .  .  u?     And 

he  answering  said,  Th<yii  shalt  lov*  \  with  all 

thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  aiv  gth,  and 

v/ith  all  thv  mind  ;  and  thy  neighb<  he,  will- 

iy  himself,  said  utV;  ;y  neigh- 
-.    :vK  X.  25-29. 

THE  one  who  introduced  'rimed 

to  be  seeking  the  iva'  -  ou 

the  right  track.     11;^'*  \\\  liave 

been  saved.     He  had  gone  u  r  Jesus 

Christ  is  the  onl}'  source    :  all  the 

knowledge  the  world  has  ol  la  .\   ihis  man 

sought.     Through  him  alone  -./  of  redemp- 

tion and  the  truth  of  salvation.  10  that  un- 

known 'God,  in  search  of  whom  i.  world  was 

groping,   was  all  dark    and  tracklt-  -esus    Christ 

brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  tl  rough  his  g^r^spel. 
To  him  we  must  go,  whether  we  would  iiave  that,  know- 
ledge or  the  wisdom  whose  funrtir  i  is  to  guide  all 
knowledge.     It  was  in  the  ima  I  that  man  was 

created  ''in  knowledge,  rightec lk  i xs- ,  and  holiness," 
but  the  wisdom  to  adjust  and  keep  these  in  their  proper 
play  was  the  one  thing  that  ma^i  had  not.  And  seeking 
to  find  that  wisdor^  '     '  !  m  groimd,  b 

time  and  eteniilv,  v  And  ma.' 


264  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

to  pieces  on  the  adverse  wheel  of  fortune  in  this  rash 
experiment  upon  the  veracity  of  the  Almighty.  From 
that  day  to  this,  in  all  ages,  among  every  people  and 
kindred  of  the  earth,  there  has  been  a  longing  of  man  to 
get  back  to  (rod. 

And  why  ?  Because  in  all  the  vast  range  and  wide 
sweep  of  creation  man  alone  is  the  only  creature  endowed 
with  a  moral  nature  ;  a  nature  in  which  there  could  be 
planted  a  moral  standard  of  action — the  proper  and  only 
field  for  the  existence  and  exercise  of  conscience.  It  is 
this  moral  nature  which  separates  man — by  the  whole 
diameter  of  his  conscious  being — from  all  the  other  ani- 
mal creation.  The  wild  beast  of  the  field  devours  his 
victim ;  the  bird  of  the  air  consumes  his  prey  ;  the  fish  of 
the  deep  live  on  their  kind.  But  with  them  there  is  no 
regret,  no  remorse,  no  conception  of  crime,  no  idea  of 
murder,  simply  because  they  are  not  rational,  they  have 
no  moral  nature,  no  conscience.  Nowhere  in  all  animate 
nature,  outside  of  human  nature,  is  there  such  a  thing 
as  social  life,  or  fellowship,  or  binding  reciprocal  obliga- 
tion, or  sense  of  duty.  Where  there  is  no  moral  na- 
ture there  can  be  no  moral  law,  and  consequently  no 
moral  accountability,  no  duty  to  God,  no  duty  to  man, 
no  final  judgment,  no  eternal  life.  It  is  in  man  alone 
that  both  duty  and  accountability  to  God  and  his  fellow- 
man  is  vested.  And  every  time  that  a  question  of  con- 
science arises  it  involves  both  of  these,  either  directly  or 
remotely. 

I.  "  What  shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life  ?  "  is  a  moral 
question.  "  Who  is  my  neighbor?"  is  equally  a  ques- 
tion of  conscience.  This  lawyer,  eminent,  distinguished 
and  learned  in  his  profession — "a  certain  lawyer" — was 
dealing  with  a  question  of  conscience.  He  came  to  the 
proper  person,  the  only  one  who  could  lead  him  as  an 
unerring  guide  and  instruct  him  as  an  infallible  teacher. 


APPLIED  CHRISTIANITY.  265 

' '  What  shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life  ?  "  A  ques- 
tion which  each  one  of  us  must  ask  at  some  time.  A 
question  the  solution  of  which  each  one  of  us  must  find 
if  we  would  escape  eternal  death. 

But  the  context  says,  he  "tempted  him."  Yes, 
that  is  the  way  it  reads — "a  certain  lawyer  stood  up, 
and  tempted  him . ' '  After  such  investigation  as  I  have 
been  able  to  give  this  passage,  governed,  as  I  have  been, 
by  the  accepted  rules  of  interpretation  of  Scripture,  I 
have  reached  the  conclusion  that  this  lawyer  was  not  *  *  in 
contempt. "  I  do  not  believe  the  question  was  asked  in 
any  spirit  of  hostility,  even  though  there  may  have  been 
no  great  and  overpowering  desire  for  a  clear  and  un- 
equivocal answer.  Habits,  of  thought,  and  investiga- 
tion, and  utterance,  fasten  themselves  on  men  like  a 
* '  second  nature ' '  and  characterize  the  individuality  of 
each.  This  man's  habits  were  those  of  a  lawyer.  He 
wanted  to  find  out,  by  questions,  what  this  great  Teacher 
from  Galilee  knew  of  this  the  chiefest  of  all  issues.  He 
was  testing  the  Saviour.  He  was  moving  along  the  lines 
of  investigation  for  information.  In  proof  of  this  we  must 
not  forget  that  the  word  here  translated  ' '  tempted  "  is  a 
broad  word  in  its  meaning.  It  may  indicate,  as  I  think 
it  does  in  this  case,  no  bad  purpose,  but  a  test  merely  to 
bring  out  fully  facts  before  unknown.  For  we  must 
remember  that  it  is  the  intent  of  the  one  putting  the  test, 
the  motive  in  the  heart,  which  makes  it  eithe-r  good  or 
bad.  Many  illustrations  of  this  might  be  given.  In 
Luke  xxiv.  28  our  Saviour  tempted  his  disciples  when 
"he  made  as  though  he  would  have  gone  further." 
Also  in  Mark  vi.  48,  when  he  came  unto  his  disciples 
and  * '  would  have  passed  by  them . "  I  do  not  mean  that  the 
language  in  each  one  of  these  passages  is  the  same ;  but  I 
do  mean,  that  in  each  case  the  disciples  were  put  to  a  test  by 
their  Saviour.     And  I  do  further  claim  that  the  meaning 


266  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

of  the  word  here  used  does,  in  the  original  language, 
justify  fully  the  interpretation  I  have  given  it.  Then, 
again,  the  question  itself  involves  an  issue  too  grave  and 
too  grand  to  allow  any  malignant  intent  to  attach,  and 
the  final  answer  of  the  lawyer  himself  is  offered  in  proof. 
We  find  all  through  these  Scriptures  that  the  ' '  Son  of  man' ' 
never  failed  to  give  a  respectful  hearing  and  a  suitable 
answer  to  any  and  all  who  came  to  him  with  honest 
doubts  and  serious  questions.  This  lawyer  was  evidently 
feeling  for  the  truth.  He  would  test  the  power  of  God's 
greatest  witness  by  putting  the  greatest  of  all  questions, 
one  involving  the  issues  of  eternal  life.  The  Saviour 
turns  him  back  upon  his  own  profession,  asking  him  to 
state  the  laws  of  the  case.  He  was  its  professed  teacher, 
now  let  him  become  its  practical  expounder.  '  *  What  is 
written  in  the  law  ?  how  readest  thou  ?  "  A  double 
question,  involving  a  double  answer.  What  is  the  text  of 
the  law  ?  How  do  you  interpret  it  ?  To  the  law  he  went. 
His  perfect  knowledge  of  that  law  enabled  him  to  refer 
at  once  to  the  very  passage  in  question.  (Deut.  vi.  5, 
and  Lev.  xix.  18.)  He  quotes  correctly  and  gives  the 
meaning,  ' '  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength, 
and  with  all  thy  mind;  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 
A  true  and  correct  answer,  a  fair  and  consistent  interpre- 
tation, a  manly,  frank,  and  open  confession.  Then  said 
the  Saviour,  "  This  do,  and  thou  shalt  live." 

II.  How  near  many  a  man  comes  to  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  then  stops  in  a  dead  halt,  a  stubborn,  selfish  resist- 
ance, a  refusal  to  yield  any  further;  but  moving  off  at 
right  angles,  springs  with  amazing  alacrity,  a  side  issue, 
a  different  and  subordinate  question.  And  so  here  a  dif- 
ficulty comes  up,  a  new  obstacle  arises.  *  *  But  he,  willing 
to  justify  himself,  said  unto  Jesus,  Who  is  my  neighbor? ' ' 
Self-justification.     It  is  the  old  Adam.     It  first  made  its 


APPLIED  CHRISTIANITY.  267 

appearance  in  the  garden  of  Eden.  This  man,  ' '  willing  to 
justify  himself, ' '  willed  exactly  as  the  first  man  willed,  to 
justify  himself,  as  "he  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord  God 
walking  in  the  garden  in  the  cool  of  the  day.  (Gen.  iii.  8.) 
It  is  one  of  the  wayside  arguments  for  the  unity  of  race. 
It  tells  of  the  origin  of  man,  and  the  nature  of  sin.  We 
feel  it  in  our  own  sinful  nature  and  wicked  hearts.  We 
see  it  all  around  us  and  on  every  hand.  Every  man  ' '  will- 
ing to  justify  himself."  It  is  the  outworking  of  man's 
depraved  nature.  It  is  the  wild  growth  of  original  sin. 
The  question  is  raised  by  this  lawyer  as  to  what  consti- 
tutes neighborhood.  The  question  itself  implies  much. 
It  indicates  a  troubled  condition  of  mind,  an  anxious 
solicitude  of  heart.  It  is  a  partial  confession  of  a  con- 
sciousness that  something  is  wrong,  that  somehow  some 
duty  is  left  undone  ;  while  at  the  same  time  it  intimates 
a  readiness  to  do  if  he  only  knew  when  and  where  and 
how  to  do.  "Who  is  my  neighbor?"  As  though  he 
would  say  I  am  ready  to  show  mercy,  but,  to  whom  ?  I 
must  know  before  I  do  lest  my  doing  should  be  wrong. 
Difiiculties  lay  in  the  way  of  this  lawyer  which  need 
never  lay  in  our  way.  Perplexities  arose  in  his  mind 
which  need  never  arise  in  ours.  The  training  of  ages 
had  taught  him,  and  his  people,  that  he  and  they  owed 
no  duty  to  man,  woman,  or  child,  outside  of  the  Hebrew 
commonwealth.  The  very  law  which  he  knew  so  well 
had  been  used  to  teach  him  that  no  Gentile  was  his 
neighbor.  The  Hebrew  statutory,  criminal  law  would 
not  put  an  Israelite  to  death  for  killing  a  Gentile,  for  he 
was  not  his  neighbor.  If  a  Hebrew  saw  a  Gentile  in 
danger  of  death  he  was  under  no  obligation  to  save  his 
life.  Such  statutes  had  been  enacted  from  that  covenant 
constitution  given  them  by  the  Almighty .  This  rubbish 
Jesus  had  to  clear  away  in  laying  the  deep  foundations 
for  the  gospel  to  the   Gentiles.     Jesus  swept  by  these 


268  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

criminal  statutes,  trampled  them  under  as  he  went  along, 
and  opened  up  the  wonderful  law  of  love  as  it  lay  in  the 
heart  of  God  and  the  covenant  promises. 

But  with  us  no  less,  or  hardly  less,  than  with  this 
learned  jurist  there  is  a  hazy  indistinctness  as  to  who  is 
our  neighbor.  Our  compound  derivative  from  two 
Anglo-Saxon  words,  7ieah  and  gcbur,  signifying  near 
and  to  dwell,  or  one  dwelling  near,  has  led  the  masses 
of  the  people  to  feel  that  a  neighbor  is  merely  a  contiguous 
settler  whose  farm  or  liome  joins  ours,  separated  only  by 
a  division  fence,  the  children  of  both  families  making 
common  playgrounds  of  the  woods  and  the  meadows 
lying  between,  and  belonging  to  each.  We  thus  limit 
"neighborhood"  to  hamlet,  village,  or  district,  and 
the  busy  lives  of  our  narrow  surrounding  constitutes 
our  neighborhood.  The  word  which  our  Saviour  here 
chooses  to  define  his  meaning  is  one  of  a  broader  and 
deeper  import  and  a  wider  and  more  comprehensive  range. 
The  Greek  word  is  plasion,  signifying  the  same  in  kind, 
having  no  reference  to  proximity  of  location  except  in  a 
secondary  sense.  He  makes  it  generic  and  applies  it  to 
the  race.  Humanity  is  the  field  of  operation;  distresc, 
want,  poverty,  misfortune,  pestilence,  famine,  and  crime 
are  the  conditions  calling  for  action.  He  who  under- 
stands the  deep  and  wide  import  of  the  word  will  bound 
the  limit  of  his  charity  only  by  his  ability  to  do.  Village 
and  city,  state  and  country,  and  suffering  humanity 
everywhere  lay  claim  to  our  beneficence,  and  it  is  only 
(rod's  providential  dealing  with  us,  as  emergencies  may 
arise,  that  can  determine  how  great  shall  be  our  ability 
to  do  or  where  our  liberality  shall  end.  This  is  God's 
law  of  love  to  our  neighbor.  It  demands  that  all  the 
powers  of  our  nature  shall  be  brought  into  requisition 
in  the  fulfilment  of  our  duty  to  him  who  made  us  and  to 
those  whom  we  call  our  fellows. 


APPLIED  CHRISTIANITY.  269 

III.  Humane  nature  is  one, — one  in  its  origin,  essence, 
aims,  and  purposes.  There  is  a  base  line  of  humanity 
from  which  all  the  wonderful  surveys  of  its  relative  bear- 
ings and  final  courses  must  be  taken.  And  the  lesson 
when  cast  up  will  be  that  every  part  is  like  the  whole, 
and  every  human  heart  is  human.  There  is  a  similarity, 
a  kinship,  a  brotherhood  running  through  the  race  from 
its  origin  to  its  close.  For  God  ' '  hath  made  of  one  blood 
all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed, 
and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation."  (Acts  xvii.  26.) 
Here  is  the  revelation  of  the  origin  of  man,  and  the 
argument  for  the  unity  of  the  human  race.  It  is  not  in 
the  similarity  of  skeletons  and  bones,  nor  the  peculiar 
build  of  the  spinal  column.  It  is  not  to  be  sought  in  the 
vertebrae  or  tibia.  The  argument  lies  not  in  the  curves 
of  the  back-bone,  or  the  fluting  of  the  shin-bone.  But 
it  does  lie  and  is  to  be  found  in  the  ' '  one  blood. ' '  For  the 
stream  of  life  in  the  whole  human  race  is  one  and  flows 
from  one  fountain.  It  was  this  human  nature,  with  its 
life  and  the  unity  of  that  life  in  the  * '  one  blood, ' '  that 
Jesus  Christ  assumed  when  he  became  man.  His  human 
nature  consisted  of  "  a  true  body  and  a  reasonable  soul. ' ' 
And  so  the  human  nature  of  the  Son  of  God  having  its 
life  in  this  ' '  one  blood ' '  made  it  possible  for  that  blood, 
when  it  flowed  on  the  cross,  to  atone  for  the  sins  of  the 
chosen  people  of  God  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue, 
and  nation  in  all  times  and  through  all  ages.  The  base 
line  of  salvation  lies  in  the  "one  blood."  Without  the 
shedding  of  blood  there  could  be  no  remission  of  sin. 
(Hebrews  ix.  22.)  It  was  the  blood  of  the  nations 
which  flowed  on  the  cross,  that  some  of  all  nations 
might  be  saved  by  the  cross.  It  is  that  **one  blood" 
which  saves  to  the  uttermost  them  that  come  unto  God 
by  Jesus  Christ  (Hebrews  vii.  25),  who  poured  out  his 


270  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

life  in  that  ' '  one  blood  ' '  when  on  the  cross  he  bowed  his 
head  and  gave  up  the  ghost.  (John  xix.  30.)  For,  '  *  God 
set  him  forth  as  his  Son  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in 
his  blood  "  for  the  remission  of  sins.  (Romans  iii.  25.) 
But  in  this  unity  there  is  a  marked  and  wonder- 
ful diversity,  physical,  social,  intellectual  and  moral, 
as  marked  as  that  of  the  various  trees  which  make 
up  the  forest  with  its  ' '  deep  contiguity  of  shade, ' '  or  the 
flowers  which  adorn  the  earth  with  their  rich  fragrance, 
their  delicious  perfume,  and  diversified  beauty.  For 
God,  who  made  man  and  appointed  the  earth  as  the 
habitation  of  the  children  of  men,  deals  with  man  through 
his  providence  in  time  and  space.  The  appointments  of 
the  divine  mind  are  determined  in  his  ordering  of  provi- 
dence. Nothing  comes  by  chance.  God  has  appointed 
the  time  of  our  coming  into  the  world,  the  part  we  are 
to  play,  the  little  or  much  we  are  to  do,  the  circum- 
stances by  which  we  are  surrounded,  and  the  time  of 
our  departure.  (Eccl.  iii.  i,  2.)  Our  times  are  in  his 
hands,  to  be  lengthened  or  shortened,  to  be  embittered 
or  sweetened,  as  it  may  please  him.  His  deter- 
minations are  not  rash,  sudden,  or  equivocal.  They 
correspond  to  an  eternal  purpose.  They  counterpart  the 
divine  decrees.  God  has  harnessed  man  for  the  whole 
draft.  Some  are  in  the  lead  and  some  are  at  the  wheel, 
for  the  mighty  pull,  that  the  secrets  of  eternity  may  be 
drawn  to  the  light.  Of  the  chosen  ones  there  are  some 
who  stretch  out  their  hands  to  God  ;  they  stir  themselves 
up  to  lay  hold  upon  him ;  they  agonize  for  the  dawn  of 
that  light.  These  are  they  who  gather  the  graces  of  the 
Spirit  for  the  joy  of  church,  as  the  lofty  peaks  of  the 
great  mountains  gather  the  snows  and  send  down  rivers 
of  waters  to  refresh  the  earth.  There  are  others  of  the 
"many  called  "  who,  as  the  parable  tell  us,  are  "  com- 
pelled to  come  in."     But,  alas!  for  them  that  are   the 


APPLIED  CHRISTIANITY.  27 1 

cast  out.  Still, — it  all  works  together !  The  lilies  which 
grow,  the  young  lions  which  are  fed,  the  hairs  which  are 
numbered,  and  the  sparrows  which  fall,  are  but  the  frac- 
tions in  one  vast  and  mighty  sum  to  be  v/orked  out  in 
time.  There  is  no  place  in  the  everlasting  covenant  of 
God  ' '  which  is  both  ordered  and  sure, "  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  5.) 
for  the  wild  disorder  of  the  anarchist  or  the  commune  of 
the  socialist.  No  place  for  the  Utopian  dreamer  or  the 
spiritual  somnambulist.  He  who  said,  "in  the  sweat  of 
thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  return  unto  the 
ground  ' '  (Gen.  iii.  19),  meant  that  word  '  *  face  ' '  to  repre- 
sent the  whole  person,  soul  and  body.  It  is  intended  to 
include  all  labor,  manual,  intellectual,  and  moral.  "It 
means  a  sweat  of  the  brow,  and  a  sweat  of  the  brain,  and 
a  sweat  of  the  heart."  The  hewer  of  wood,  and  the 
drawer  of  water,  is  no  less  in  his  place  than  the  man 
who  measures  the  stars,  or  codifies  the  laws,  or  guides 
and  trains  the  conscience.  That  sweat  of  the  *'face" 
mitigated  the  primeval  curse,  and  stands  as  the  seal  of 
the  covenant  promise  that  our  bread  and  our  water  are 
sure  if  there  be  sweat  on  the  face,  but  not  otherwise. 
Just  as  that  other  sweat  in  the  garden  of  agony  was  to 
mitigate  the  curse  on  the  soul,  and  stands  as  the  seal  of 
the  other  covenant  promise  that  the  soul  shall  have  the 
bread  and  water  of  eternal  life  if  it  be  found  believing 
in  Christ,  but  not  otherwise.  (Luke  xxii.  44.)  For  the 
same  God  who  said,  ' '  He  that  believeth  not  the  son  shall 
not  see  life, ' '  (  John  iii.  36.)  said  also,  ' '  that  if  any  would 
not  work  neither  should  he  eat."     (2  Thess.  iii.  10.) 

As  far  back  as  the  confusion  of  tongues,  at  the  build- 
ing of  Babel  in  the  plains  of  Shinar,  God  outlined  this 
physical,  social,  moral  and  intellectual  distinction,  ex- 
isting then,  existing  now,  and  to  continue  as  long  as 
there  shall  be  a  race  of  men  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Yet  we  find  it  is  equally  true  touching  the  one  great 


272  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

issue  of  redemption,  salvation  and  eternal  life ;  there  is 
no  difference,  "for  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of 
the  glory  of  God. ' '  (Romans  iii.  9.)  It  is  just  here  that 
God  applies  the  unit  rule.  The  Gentiles,  who  had  not 
the  law  by  revelation,  had  "the  work  of  the  law  written 
in  their  hearts,  their  consciences  bearing  witness,  and 
their  thoughts  the  meanwhile  accusing  or  else  excusing 
one  another. ' '  (Romans  ii.  15.)  Not  because  they  were 
Gentiles,  but  because  they  were  of  that  "one  blood," 
and  therefore  belonged  to  that  humanity,  the  secrets  of 
which  (}od  shall  judge  by  Jesus  Christ  according  to  the 
gospel.     (Romans  ii.  16.) 

IV.  We  must  believe,  then,  that  God's  law  of  love  is 
the  inculcation,  and  the  practical  application,  so  far  as 
our  fellow-man  is  concerned,  of  universal  equity.  It 
has  nothing  to  do  with  vocation,  or  grade,  or  rank  in 
organized  society.  It  draws  no  line  between  peasant 
and  king,  or  monarch  and  vassal.  The  rich  may  some- 
times need  it,  and  the  pauper  may  stand  at  our  gate 
begging  for  bread.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  adjust- 
ing, or  readjusting  of  the  inequalities  of  life — social,  civil, 
or  political.  It  is  not  lodged  in  that  sentimental  phi- 
losophy which  would  level  all  men  to  the  same  social 
plane ;  neither  does  it  lift  itself  up  into  a  frigid  condition 
of  normal  justice  merely.  In  obeying  this  law  of  love 
we  must  not  be  expected  to  conform  our  actions  to  the 
arbitrary  demands  of  humanitarian  schools  of  philan- 
thropy, or  associations  of  men.  But  it  does  require  us  to 
render  precisely  the  same  equity  to  others,  in  given  con- 
ditions, which  it  would  be  reasonable  and  equitable  for 
us  to  expect  from  them  if  we  should  be  placed  in  their 
circumstances  and  surrounded  by  similar  conditions. 
We  may  very  reasonably  infer  that  it  was  to  bring  out 
these  facts,  touching  the  duties  of  the  second  table  of 
the  law,  which  induced  our  Saviour  in  predicating  the 


APPI^IED  CHRISTIANITY.  273 

condition  of  this  parable  to  select  a  Samaritan,  whose 
social,  civil,  and  political  condition  could  never  be  so  re- 
adjusted, under  the  Hebrew  law,  as  to  make  him  the 
neighbor  of  a  Jew.  And  the  man  who  was  the  recipient 
of  that  equitable  charity,  who  had  been  sorely  beaten 
and  bruised  by  these  merciless  robbers,  stripped  of  his 
raiment  and  left  half  dead,  may  or  may  not  have  been  a 
man  of  rank  and  a  Jew.  Nothing  is  said  of  his  social 
standing,  his  civil  position,  or  his  political  predilections. 
The  Samaritan  made  no  inquiry  about  these,  nor  did  he 
propose  to  change  them  or  in  any  way  interfere  with 
them.  It  was  suffering  humanity  that  lay  before  him ;  it 
was  a  fellow- man  suffering,  and  it  stirred  his  compassion  ; 
it  was  one  of  the  sons  of  humanity,  and  he  ministered  to 
his  wants.  He  met  the  conditions  in  personally  adminis- 
tering to  the  relief  of  the  sufferer  with  his  wine  and  oil,  and 
used  his  pennies  to  foot  the  hotel  bill.  There  is  no  proof 
and  no  argument  to  prove  that  this  '  *  good  Samaritan ' ' 
did  anything  more  than  comply,  as  opportunity  offered, 
with  the  requirements  of  the  second  table  of  the  moral 
law.  For  the  argument  all  along  this  line  was  to  de- 
velop and  establish  the  unity  of  the  race  in  the  "one 
blood, ' '  and  the  consequent  necessity  for  the  exercise  of 
the  kindlier  offices  and  the  heart's  compassion  in  times  of 
suffering  and  distress ;  and  to  show  that  this  obligation 
was  enforced  by  the  authority  of  God  and  conduced  to 
the  relief  of  human  need,  and  thereby  promoted  indi- 
vidual happiness.  Along  this  line  much  has  been  done, 
and  much  will  yet  be  done  by  unregenerate  men  for 
relieving  the  distress  of  the  world.  Hospitals,  homes  of 
charity,  reforms  of  every  kind,  works  of  philanthropy, 
and  compassion  of  pity  and  mercy,  all  go  to  establish 
the  truth  of  the  proposition.  And  so  whatever  may 
come  from  the  kindlier  feelings  of  unregenerate  nature, 
18 


274  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

is  better  than  no  response  to  the  call  for  sympathy  and 
help.  I^ight  is  better  than  darkness,  but  all  nature  would 
lose  her  beauty,  the  earth  would  grow  sick,  and  the 
world  would  die,  if  no  other  light  fell  upon  the  face  of 
creation  than  the  light  which  rules  by  night — the  moon's 
pale  light.  It  is  the  light  of  the  morning,  the  splendid 
beams  of  the  rising  sun,  which  lights  the  world  in  glori- 
ous day.  The  one  illustrates  the  charity  of  unconverted 
men,  the  other  illustrates  that  charity  which  is  done  in 
the  name  of  Christ  by  the  believing  child  of  God. 

It  was  precisely  along  this  line  of  the  second  table  of 
the  law  which  pertains  to  our  fellow-man  that  the  rich 
young  man  had  lived  and  acted,  who,  responding  to  our 
Saviour,  said :  '  *  All  these  things  have  I  kept  from  my 
youth  up :  what  lack  I  yet  ?  "  A  model  specimen  of  a 
cultivated  gentleman  of  the  best  and  most  refined  society 
in  the  world.  His  great  wealth,  open  heart,  and  sunny 
life  had  made  him  an  object  of  personal  admiration  with 
all.  His  frankness,  sincerity,  and  very  nearness  to  the 
kingdom  of  God,  drew  out  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ 
toward  him.  But  there  was  one  thing  lacking,  and  be- 
cause he  would  not  pass  up  to  the  requirements  of  the 
first  table  of  that  divine  law  of  love  he  turned  from  the 
loving  look  of  that  compassionate  Saviour  and  w^ent  away 
sorrowful.  (Matt.  xix.  20-22.)  Could  we  but  get  a 
glance  into  the  hearts  of  the  very  best  of  these  unregene- 
rate  benefactors  of  the  race,  and  hear  these  hearts  speak 
out  in  the  frankness  of  their  own  conscious  wants,  there 
would  no  doubt  come  from  each  of  them  the  inquiry, 
"What  lack  I  yet?" 

V.  The  whole  duty  of  man  can  be  performed  only  when 
the  life  and  power  of  that  law  which  underlies  both  tables 
shall  enter  into  the  heart  and  dwell  there  with  complete 
control  over  all  its  thoughts  and  actions.  When  this 
takes  .place,  and   the  graces  of  Christianity  are  planted 


APPLIED  CHRISTIANITY.  275 

and  rooted  in  the  human  heart  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  its 
capacity  for  doing  good  is  enlarged  in  every  direction, 
whether  in  human  charity,  personal  benevolence,  gen- 
eral philanthropy,  or  Christian  privilege  and  duty.  Man 
cannot  be  a  lover  of  his  race,  as  God  would  have  him 
love  that  race,  without  first  having  the  love  of  God  shed 
abroad  in  his  own  heart.  It  is  only  when  human  charity 
proceeds  from  the  heart  in  which  Christ  dwells  that  it 
becomes  Christian  charity.  In  that  matchless  delinea- 
tion of  gifts  as  arranged  by  Paul  (i  Cor.  -xiii. ,  passim)  of 
understanding,  and  knowledge,  and  charity,  this  one 
grace  of  God's  love  underlies  and  overlaps  them  all. 
Though  one  should  give  all  his  "goods  to  feed  the 
poor, ' '  and  hath  not  this  divine  love  {agape)  planted  in 
his  heart,  *  *  it  profiteth  nothing. "  It  is  deemed  neces- 
sary just  here  to  speak  with  emphasis  of  this  fact,  be- 
cause of  the  very  strong  disposition  and  tendency  on  the 
part  of  many  to  make  the  outworkings  of  the  kindlier 
feelings  of  unregenerate  nature  answer  both  conditions 
of  the  law  of  love — duty  to  God  and  duty  to  man.  Chris- 
tian charity  can  no  more  exist  in  the  human  heart  with- 
out first  coming  from  God  than  the  love  of  God  can  exist 
in  the  heart  without  producing  that  charity.  Christ  was 
never  in  prison ;  neither  did  you  ever  visit  him,  or  feed, 
or  clothe  him ;  yet  when  done  to  his  people  in  need  of 
them,  the  full  conditions  are  met,  and  you  have  done 
these  things  to  him,  Herein  lies  the  germinal  idea  of 
preaching  the  gospel  at  home  and  sending  it  to  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth.  It  is  the  love  expanding,  but 
not  dividing;  widening,  but  not  breaking.  This  law 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  that  comprehensive  teaching  of 
Paul  (Romans  xiv.  7)  that  "no  man  Hveth  to  himself, 
and  no  man  dieth  to  himself. ' '  The  man  who  loves  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  obeys  his  commandments  willingly 
and  cheerfully.    There  is  no  such  thing  as  physical  com- 


276  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

pulsion  in  all  the  vast  round  and  range  of  Christian  life. 
The  will  is  free  to  fall  in  with  the  eternal  purpose  of 
God,  and  the  heart  is  responsive  to  every  call.  Applied 
Christianity  may  consist  in  giving  vast  or  small  sums  of 
money,  according  as  God  has  prospered  us  (i  Cor.  xvi. 
2),  for  the  support  of  the  gospel  at  home  and  for  the  con- 
version of  the  world,  or  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  thirsty 
beggar,  or  a  crumb  of  bread  to  a  hungry  outcast,  or  the 
bread  of  life  to  the  perishing  soul.  Christianity  enlarges 
the  heart  so  that  it  does  not  serve  God  with  a  spirit  of 
resistance,  or  even  of  reluctance,  for  God  makes  his  peo- 
ple willing  in  the  day  of  his  power.  (Psalm  ex.  3.)  It 
makes  a  man  seek  out  opportunities  to  do  good,  and  run 
with  alacrity  to  do  it.  At  every  turn  of  the  road,  in  this 
'  *  valley  of  tears, ' '  we  can  find  some  one  who  has  fallen  by 
the  way,  with  many  passing  by  on  the  other  side,  leaving 
the  Samaritan's  work  for  us  to  do ;  or  when,  weary  in  our 
journey,  we  sit  on  the  curbstone  at  the  brink  of  the  well, 
we  may  see  many  a  poor  outcast  seeking  to  draw  from 
the  deep  waters  of  earth,  whom  we  might  lead  to  fountains 
the  streams  whereof  would  bring  gladness  and  joy. 

Some  of  the  grand  masters,  who  are  worthy  to  be  read 
and  studied,  have  so  systematized  their  great  works  that 
certain  personages  appear  at  given  points,  and  many 
times  in  rapid  succession,  and  then  pass  out  and  are 
seen  no  more.  Their  parts  are  performed,  their  work  is 
done  ;  and  yet  they  have  given  all  the  tone  and  charac- 
ter to  the  play.  But  God,  in  the  grander  unfolding  of 
his  eternal  purposes  through  human  instrumentality, 
has  made  this  truth  even  more  impressive.  His  mys- 
terious hand  guides  the  footsteps  of  his  people  in  ways 
they  know  not  of;  and  by  bringing  the  incidents  of  one 
man's  life  into  the  necessities  of  many  others,  is  per- 
fecting that  splendid  fabric  of  glory  which  he  is  weaving 
for  himself  out  of  the  lives  of  us  all. 


iREE  CAUSES  OF  SALVATION. 

BY  REV.   W.  W.   MOORH,   D    D,, 
ofessor  of  Hebrew  and  Literature  in  Union  Thro  logical 
Seminary ,    Virginia, 


"Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us  v/itli  thfc  word  of  truth,  that  we 
should  be  a  kind  of  first-fruits  of  his  creatures." — James  i.  i8. 

THIS  is  one  of  the  most  comprehensive  statements 
in  the  Bible.  It  outlines  the  whole  vScheme  of  re- 
demption. As  the  acorn  contains  the  oak  in 
embjTo,  so  this  text  in  its  small  compass  contains  the 
whole  substance  of  divine  revelation  concerning  the 
divine  activity,  method  and  purf»ose  in  the  work  of 
human  redemption,  not  in  full  development,  of  course, 
V)ut  in  germ.  It  tells  us  at  once  the  source,  and  the 
means,  and  the  purpose  of  our  salvation  from  sin.  It 
tells  us  the  source  of  our  salvation ;  ' '  Of  his  own  will 
begat  he  us. ' '  It  tells  us  the  ?neans  of  our  salvation : 
"With  the  word  of  truth."  And  it  tells  us  the  object 
of  our  salvation :  ' '  That  we  should  be  a  kind  of  first- 
fruits  of  his  creatures." 

Philosophical  writers  are  accustomed  to  distinguish 
three  kinds  of  cause.  They  make  a  distinction  between 
what  W\^y  call  the  efficient  cause,  the  instrumental  cause, 
■ind  the  final  cause  of  any  effect .  llie  distinction  is  a 
good  one,  and  will  be  of  value  to  us  in  the  interpretation 
of  this  text.  The  efficient  cause  is  the  power  that  pro- 
duces the  result,  and  without  which  the  result  cannot  be 
produced.  The  instrumental  cause  is  the  means  by 
which  the  power  is  applied.     And  the  .final  cause  is  the 


278  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

For  instance,  in  the  locomotion  of  a  train  of  cars,  the 
efficient  cause  of  the  motion  is  steam,  the  instrumental 
cause  is  the  engine  with  its  appliances  of  cylinder,  piston, 
driver,  and  other  machinery  for  bringing  the  povver  to 
bear,  and  the  final  cause  is  the  transportation  of  pas- 
sengers or  produce.  In  writing  a  letter  the  efficient 
cause  of  the  letter  is  the  person  who  writes  it,  the  instru- 
mental cause  is  the  pen  with  which  it  is  written,  and  the 
final  cause  is  the  object  for  which  it  is  written,  such  as 
communication  with  a  friend,  or  the  transaction  of  busi- 
ness. In  felling  a  tree  the  efficient  cause  of  its  fall  is  the 
woodman  who  chops  it,  the  instrumental  cause  is  the 
axe  which  cuts  it,  and  the  final  cause  is  the  purpose  for 
which  it  is  cut,  fuel,  or  lumber,  or  what  not. 

These  three  kinds  of  cause  enter  into  the  work  of 
human  redemption,  and  in  the  text  before  us  we  have  a 
statement  of  what  John  Calvin  has  well  called  the  effi- 
cient cause,  the  instrumental  cause,  and  the  final  cause 
of  our  salvation. 

I.  The  efficient  cause :  "Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us. ' ' 
The  person  referred  to  is  God.  The  power  that  regen- 
erates a  human  soul  is  nothing  less  than  divine  power. 
And  this  power  is  exercised  according  to  his  sovereign 
pleasure,  unmoved  by  any  external  cause .  There  are  some 
who  teach  that  man  is  the  efficient  cause  of  his  own  salva- 
tion. These  misunderstand  the  Scriptures.  The  only  effi- 
cient cause  of  salvation  is  Ood.  This  is  shown  conclu- 
sively by  the  terms  used  in  the  Bible  to  describe  the  con- 
dition of  man  before  regeneration,  as  well  as  by  the  terms 
which  are  used  to  describe  the  process  of  regeneration 
itself.  Hear  this  statement  of  the  Apostle  Paul  in  his 
epistle  to  the  Ephesians  :  ' '  You  hath  he  quickened,  who 
were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sin ;  wherein  in  time  past 
ye  walked  according  to  the  course  of  this  world,  accord- 


THE  THREE  CAUSES  OF  SALVATION.  279 

ing  to  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that 
now  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience;  among 
whom  also  we  all  had  our  conversation  in  time  past  in 
the  lusts  of  our  flesh,  fulfilling  the  desires  of  the  flesh  and 
of  the  mind ;  and  were  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath 
even  as  others.  But  God,  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for  his 
great  love  wherewith  he  loved  us,  even  when  we  were 
dead  in  sins,  hath  quickened  us  together  with  Christ  {by 
^race  ye  are  saved')  :  and  hath  raised  us  up  together,  and 
made  us  sit  together  in  heavenly  places  in  Jesus  Christ : 
that  in  the  ages  to  come  he  might  shew  the  exceeding 
riches  of  his  grace  in  his  kindness  toward  us  through 
Christ  Jesus.  For  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith  : 
and  that  not  of  yourselves ;  it  is  the  gift  of  God;  not  of 
works  ^  lest  any  fnan  shoidd  boast.  For  we  are  his  work- 
manships created  in  Christ  fesiis  unto  good  zvorks,  which 
God  hath  before  ordained  that  we  should  walk  in  them. ' ' 

Observe  the  force  of  these  terms.  *  'Dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins."  Can  the  dead  work?  Can  a  man  effect  his 
own  salvation?  It  were  as  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
one  of  these  quiet  sleepers  in  our  silent  city  of  the  dead 
could,  by  his  own  inherent  power,  rise  from  the  grave 
and  resume  his  wonted  activities  among  us  as  to  suppose 
that  a  being  who  is  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  can  work 
out  his  own  deliverance  therefrom.  And  so  the  apostle 
writes  to  Titus  :  *  *  Not  by  works  of  righteousness  which 
we  have  done,  but  according  to  his  mercy  he  saved  us, 
by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  he  shed  on  us  abundantly  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour,  that  being  justified  by  his 
grace  we  should  be  made  heirs  according  to  the  hope  of 
eternal  life. "  Further,  this  great  change  is  described  by 
the  apostle  in  the  passage  quoted  from  Ephesians  as  a 
creation;  we  are  said  to  be  "God's  workmanship  created 


28o  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

anew  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works."  The  good 
works  follow,  they  do  not  percede,  regeneration.  It  were 
as  reasonable  to  suppose  that  a  mere  man  could,  by  the 
word  of  his  power,  speak  a  universe  into  existence  with 
its  suns  and  systems  and  living  creatures  as  to  suppose 
that  a  sinner  could  be  the  efficient  cause  of  his  own  sal- 
vation. The  same  truth  is  taught  by  our  Saviour  in  his 
conversation  with  Nicodemus,  where  he  says,  '*  Except  a 
man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 
It  is  taught  there  even  more  emphatically  than  appears 
in  the  English  Version,  for,  as  the  marginal  reading 
shows,  the  original  says,  *'  Except  a  man  be  born  from 
above  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  (John  iii.  3.) 
And  so  the  Apostle  John,  '*  As  many  as  received  him  to 
them  gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to 
them  that  believe  on  his  name,  who  were  born  not  of 
blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man, 
but  of  God."  The  argument  of  the  Apostle  James  in 
the  passage  before  us  proves  the  same  thing.  He  is 
showing  his  readers  that  all  the  evil  which  afflicts  us 
comes  from  our  own  depraved  hearts,  but  all  the  good 
which  we  enjoy  comes  from  God.  "Let  no  man  say 
when  he  is  tempted,  I  am  tempted  of  God  :  for  God 
cannot  be  tempted  with  evil,  neither  tempteth  he  any 
man ;  but  every  man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn 
away  of  his  own  lust  and  enticed.  Then  w^hen  lust 
hath  conceived,  it  bringeth  forth  sin  :  and  sin,  when  it  is 
full  grown,  bringeth  forth  death.  Do  not  err,  my  be- 
loved brethren.  Every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift 
is  from  above,  and  cometh  down  from  the  Father  of 
lights,  with  whom  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of 
turning. ' '  The  crowning  proof  of  it  is  that  ' '  of  his  own 
will  begat  he  us,"  unmoved  by  anything  meritorious  in 
man's  character  or  conduct.      (James  i.  13-18.)     This  is 


THE  THREE  CAUSES  OF  SALVATION.  28 1 

a  Specially  important  statement  as  coming  from  the 
Apostle  James,  for  he  has  been  supposed  by  some  to 
teach  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  works,  in  contradic- 
tion of  the  Apostle  Paul,  who  teaches  everywhere  that 
a  man  is  "justified  by  faith  alone,  without  the  deeds  of 
the  law."  Even  Martin  Luther  seems  to  have  been 
under  this  impression  at  one  time,  and  he  spoke  of  the 
epistle  of  James  as  an  epistle  of  straw.  But  there  is  no 
contradiction.  It  is  simply  the  old  story  of  the  two 
knights  who  were  approaching  each  other,  and  saw  a 
shield  suspended  over  the  road.  "What  a  beautiful 
golden  shield,"  said  one.  "  It  is  not  golden,"  said  the 
other,  "  it  is  silver. ' '  The  first  knight  insisted  upon  his 
view,  the  second  continued  to  deny,  and  as  they  were 
about  to  pass  from  the  clash  of  words  to  the  clash  of 
swords,  a  white-robed  figure,  whose  name  was  Truth, 
rushed  between  them  and  required  them  to  change 
places,  and  lo !  the  shield  was  golden  on  the  one  side  and 
silver  on  the  other.  So  in  regard  to  Paul  and  James. 
There  is  no  real  contradiction  between  them.  The  dif- 
ficulty is  solved  by  understanding  the  point  of  view  of 
each.  Paul  is  right;  we  are  justified  by  faith  alone. 
James  is  right ;  we  are  justified  only  by  a  working  faith. 
But  without  pausing  to  dwell  upon  the  manner  of  re- 
conciling the  apparent  difference,  let  us  note  that  there  is 
nowhere  in  Scripture,  not  even  in  the  writings  of  Paul, 
a  stronger  statement  of  the  absolute  sovereignty  and 
sole  efficiency  of  God  in  salvation  than  is  here  made  by 
the  apostle  who  has  been  supposed  by  some  to  teach 
that  a  man  is  justified  by  his  own  good  works.  The 
efficient  cause  of  salvation  is  God:  "Of  his  own  will 
begat  he  us." 

II .    The  instrumental  cause :  '  *  With  the  word  of  truth. ' ' 
It  is  not  denied  that  God  sometimes  regenerates  a  soul 


282  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

without  the  intervention  of  means.     But  his  rule,  well- 
nigh  universal,   excepting,  for  instance,  such  cases  as 
infants  and  idiots,  is  to  use  means.     And  the  means  that 
he  uses  is  the  word  of  truth.     The  Apostle  Peter  speaks 
of  believers  as  "born  again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but 
of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God,  which  liveth  and 
abideth  forever."     The  Apostle  Paul  reminds  Timothy 
that  '  *  from  a  child  thou  hast  known  the  holy  Scriptures, 
which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through 
faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."     And  in  the  twenty- 
first  verse  of  the  chapter  before  us  the   Apostle  James 
exhorts  his  readers  to  "receive  with  meekness  the  en- 
grafted word,  which  is  able  to  save  your  souls."     Some 
of  the  truths  of  this  word  which  God  uses  as  means  of 
salvation  are  these  :   That  the  original  condition  of  man  as 
God  created  him  was  one  of  knowledge,  righteousness, 
and  holiness ;  that  man  fell  from  the  estate  in  which  he 
was  created  by  sinning  against  God;    that  all  men  are 
sinners,   guilty,   polluted,  and  helpless;    "that   God  so 
loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  belie veth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life" — facts,  warnings,  invitations,  promises. 
But  let  us  now  note  the  relation  between  these  two 
causes,  the  efficient  and  the  instrumental.     There  is  no 
intrinsic  efficiency  in  the  word  for  regeneration  without 
the  spirit.     As  a  pen  is  powerless  to  write  a  letter,  as 
an   axe  is  powerless  to  fell  a  tree,   unless  there  be  an 
agent  to  wield  it,  as  an  engine  cannot  move  cars  with- 
out steam,  so  the  word  is  powerless  without  the  creative 
spirit  of  God.      "There  are  two  conditions  necessary  for 
the  production  of  a  given  effect.     The  one  is  that  the 
cause  should  have  the  requisite  efficiency ;  and  the  other, 
that  the  object  on  which  it  acts  should  have  the  requisite 
susceptibility."     The  sun  and  rain  shed  their  genial  in- 


THE  THREE  CAUSES  OF  SALVATION.       283 

fluences  on  a  desert,  and  it  remains  a  desert ;  when  these 
influences  fall  on  a  fertile  plain  it  is  clothed  with  all  the 
wonders  of  vegetable  fertility  and  beauty.  The  mid-day 
brightness  of  the  sun  has  no  more  effect  on  the  eyes  of 
the  blind  than  a  taper;  and  if  the  eye  be  bleared  the 
clearest  light  only  enables  it  to  see  men  as  trees  walk- 
ing. It  is  so  with  moral  truth  :  no  matter  what  may  be 
its  inherent  power,  it  fails  of  any  salutary  effect  unless 
the  mind  to  which  it  is  presented  be  in  a  fit  state  to  re- 
ceive it.  The  minds  of  men  since  the  fall  are  not  in  a 
condition  to  receive  the  transforming  and  saving  power 
of  the  truths  of  the  Bible ;  and  therefore  it  is  necessary, 
in  order  to  render  the  word  of  God  an  effectual  means  of 
salvation,  that  it  should  be  attended  by  the  supernatural 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  apostle  says,  expressly, 
*  *  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit 
of  God ;  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him  :  neither  can 
he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned." 
An  eminent  Presbyterian  minister  of  New  York  city 
says  that  when  he  was  a  youth  he  attended  a  certain 
religious  service  and  heard  a  sermon  on  the  subject  of 
regeneration,  in  which  the  preacher  stated  that  conver- 
sion consisted  of  two  things :  first,  a  recognition  of  him- 
self as  a  sinner,  and  secondly,  a  recognition  of  Christ  as 
a  Saviour.  The  gentleman  says  he  left  the  church  with 
an  unsatisfied  feeling  in  his  mind,  and  as  he  walked 
homeward,  those  words,  learned  in  early  boyhood,  came 
back  to  him  with  great  clearness  and  force  of  meaning : 
''Effectual  calling  is  the  work  of  God's  Spirit,  whereby, 
convincing  us  of  our  sin  and  misery,  enlightening  our 
minds  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  renewi7ig  our  wills, 
he  doth  persuade  a7id  enable  us  to  embrace  Jesus  Christ, 
freely  offered  to  us  in  the  gospel."  The  preacher  to 
whom  he  had  been  listening  had  omitted  from  his  defini- 


284  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

tion  the  most  vital  point.  Let  us  not  refuse  to  accept 
the  whole  truth  of  the  Bible  concerning  our  helplessness 
as  sinners  and  God's  sole  efficiency  in  our  salvation, 
even  though  it  expose  us  for  a  time  to  the  underserved 
charge  of  teaching  fatalism. 

Having  now  defined  the  efficient  cause  of  our  salva- 
tion, and  the  instrumental  cause,  let  us  look,  lastly,  at 
III.  The  fiyial  cause:  "That  we  should  be  a  kind  of 
firstfruits  of  his  creatures."  Under  the  old  dispensa- 
tion, the  firstfruits  of  the  harvest  and  of  the  vintage,  of 
the  flocks  and  of  the  herds,  and  even  the  firstborn  of 
their  own  families,  were  by  the  Hebrews  given  to  God. 
On  the  day  after  the  Passover  Sabbath  every  year,  a 
sheaf  of  the  first  ripe  barley  of  that  season's  crop  was 
waved  by  the  priest  before  the  Lord  as  an  offering,  and 
as  an  expression  of  gratitude,  dependence  and  devotion, 
and  by  this  consecration  of  the  firstfruits  the  entire  pro- 
duce was  consecrated.  In  like  manner  they  did  with  the 
first  loaves  made  from  the  new  grain  fifty  days  later  at 
the  feast  of  Pentecost,  and  so  of  the  best  wine  and  the 
best  oil.  The  firstlings  of  their  flocks  and  herds  also 
were  given  to  God  as  victims  for  sacrifice.  In  accord- 
ance with  the  same  principle,  and  in  special  commemora- 
tion of  the  mercy  of  God  in  sparing  their  households 
when  he  inflicted  the  tenth  plague  upon  the  Egyptians, 
the  firstborn  son  of  every  Israelitish  family  was  devoted 
to  God  as  a  minister  of  the  sanctuary.  The  Lord  after- 
wards substituted  the  Levites  for  the  firstborn  in  the 
service  of  the  tabernacle,  in  order,  no  doubt,  to  the  more 
orderly  conduct  of  public  worship  ;  and  the  overplus  of 
firstborn  sons  for  whom  there  w^ere  no  Levites  to  substi- 
tute had  to  be  redeemed  from  the  service  of  the  sanc- 
tuary by  the  payment  of  five  shekels  apiece  into  the 
tabernacle   treasury.     The   great   idea,   then,   connected 


THE  THREE  CAUSES  OF  SALVATION.  285 

with  the  firstfruits  was  that  of  consecration,  absolute 
devotion  to  the  service  of  God,  and  when  James  says 
that  *  *  of  his  own  will  begat  he  us  with  the  word  of 
truth,  that  we  shotdd  be  a  kind  of  firstfruits  of  his 
creatures,''  he  meant  the  same  thing,  to- wit,  that  the 
object  of  our  salvation  is  consecration  to  the  service  of 
God,  and  that  our  regeneration  is  a  pledge  of  the  ulti- 
mate regeneration  of  the  world  at  large. 

For  what  purpose,  then,  are  sinners  saved?  That  they 
may  finally  escape  the  punishment  due  them  for  their 
sins?  Yes,  but  that  is  secondary.  That  they  may  finally 
attain  to  the  happiness  of  heaven?  Yes,  but  that  is  sec- 
ondary. The  primary  object  of  our  salvation  is  conse- 
cration to  God's  service.  I  once  heard  the  late  Bishop 
Kavanaugh,  of  the  Methodist  Church,  say  that  he  had 
always  greatly  admired  the  first  question  and  answer  of 
The  Shorter  Catechism  of  the  Westminster  Assembly : 
* '  What  is  the  chief  end  of  man  ?  "  *  *  Man's  chief  end  is 
to  glorify  God,  and  to  enjoy  him  for  ever. ' '  And  truly 
they  are  among  the  noblest  uninspired  words  ever  writ- 
ten. Some  forty  years  ago  there  was  an  infidel  editor 
in  this  country,  who  used  to  make  shallow  sport  of  this 
great  statement ;  but  it  is  the  worthiest  answer  ever  yet 
given  to  that  momentous  question.  What,  then,  is  the 
chief  end  of  a  sinner's  .salvation?  To  glorify  God  by  a 
life  of  whole-hearted  consecration  to  his  service. 

It  is  said  that  when  Oliver  Cromwell  visited  York- 
minster,  in  England,  he  saw  in  one  of  the  apartments 
statues  of  the  twelve  apostles  in  silver.  * '  Who  are  those 
fellows  there  ?  "  he  inquired,  in  his  brusque  way,  as  he 
approached  them.  On  being  informed,  he  replied : 
"Take  them  down,  and  let  them  go  about  doing  good." 
They  were  taken  down,  and  melted,  and  coined  into 
money,  and  went  about  the  commonwealth  doing  good 


286  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

as  money.  It  has  been  well  asked,  "Are  there  not  some 
Christians  who  occupy  places  in  God's  house  more  for 
show  than  for  service?  Stately,  formal,  disinclined  to 
work  for  God,  though  doubtless  his  own  children,  sin- 
ners go  unsaved,  and  believers  go  uncomforted  and  un- 
helped,  for  all  the  effort  they  make  to  aid  them.  They 
need  to  be  melted  down  and  sent  about  doing  good. 
Statuary  Christians,  however  burnished  and  elegant 
they  may  be,  are  of  little  real  service  in  the  cause  of 
Christ. ' '  They  have  misapprehended  the  final  cause  of 
their  salvation.  They  seem  to  have  forgotten  the  second 
part  of  that  great  statement  in  the  second  chapter  of 
Titus,  where  we  are  told  that  Jesus  Christ  **gave  him- 
self for  us,  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity, 
and  purify  unto  himself  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of 
good  works." 

My  brethren,  let  us  bear  these  things  in  mind.  It  is 
well  for  us  to  remember  by  whom  we  are  saved,  and  by 
what  we  are  saved,  and  for  what  we  are  saved.  It  is 
well  for  us  to  recognize  in  our  salvation  the  power  of 
God  as  the  source,  and  the  word  of  God  as  the  means, 
and  the  glory  of  God  as  the  end ;  for  '  *  of  his  own  will 
begat  he  us  with  the  word  of  truth,  that  we  should  be  a 
kind  of  firstfruits  of  his  creatures. ' ' 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CHRIST'S 
RESURRECTION. 

BY  REV.  J.   F.  CANNON,  D.  D., 
Pastor  (>r  tne  urand  Avenue  Presbyterian  Churck,  St,  Louis,  Mo. 


"  Whom  God  hath  raised  up,  having  loosed  the  pains  of  death : 
because  it  was  not  possible  that  he  should  be  holden  of  it 
Acts  ii.  24. 

THE  disciple'  ff    lesus  i'hrist   had  no  expectation 
tho;  e  i^om  the  dead.     The  sepulchre 

!  ;id  l)ody  was  entombed  had  closed 
fbose  loving  women  who  visited 
the  sepulchre  011  the  morning  of  the  first  day  of  the  week 
went  with  their  spices  to  embalm  a  dead  body,  not  to 
meet  a  living  one.  The"  two  who  journeyed  together  to 
Emmaus  said,  '  *  We  trusted  that  it  had  been  he  which 
should  have.re4e<:'nied  Israel. ' '  (Luke  xxiv .  21.)  Such 
had  been  their  hope,  but  it  had  l.)een  turned  into  despair. 
Without  exception  they  were  incredulous  when  the  glad 
news  of  the  resurrection  was  first  announced  to  them. 
The  words  of  the  messengers  "seemed  to  thetn  as  idle 
tales,  and  they  believed  them  not.''  (Luke  xxiv.  11.) 
The  idea  of  tlpie  resurrection  was  strange  to  them,  and 
even  alarming.  Slowdy,  jealously,  almost  reluctantly, 
they  jdelded  to  the  evidence.  But  when  the  fact  was 
accepted  it  became  the  chief  inspiration  of  their  livf^  ■ 
ft  was  the  corner-stone  of  their  faith.  Tt  eir  sup-  * 
Hisiness,  henceforth,  was  to  proclaim,  and  bea^ 
Ni  it. 

Petei  was  here  preaching  on  the  day  of  Penteou- 
287 


288  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

an  excited  and  astonished  multitude  in  Jerusalem.  The 
subject  of  his  sermon  was  a  crucified  and  risen  Messiah. 
He  reminded  his  hearers  of  the  spotless  character  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  of  the  pure,  benevolent  life  which 
he  had  lived  among  them.  He  boldly  charged  them 
with  the  crime  of  having,  wantonly  and  with  wicked 
hands,  taken  his  life.  Then  he  affirmed  that  this  Jesus 
had  been  raised  from  the  dead :  '  *  This  Jesus  hath  God 
raised  up,  whereof  we  all  are  witnesses. ' '  (Vs.  32.)  He, 
and  more  than  five  hundred  others  whom  he  could  sum- 
mon, were  ready  to  testify  to  the  fact,  and  seal  their 
testimony  with  their  blood.  It  is  significant  that  none 
who  heard  him  ventured  to  impugn  the  testimony.  The 
Sanhedrin  were  doing  their  utmost  to  crush  this  new 
movement  in  its  inception,  yet.  they  did  not  undertake 
to  refute  the  assertion  that  Christ  had  risen.  The  fact 
of  his  resurrection  was  proclaimed  loudly  and  persistently 
in  the  very  midst  of  Jerusalem  itself;  yet  there  is  abso- 
lutely no  cotemporary  denial  of  it,  except  the  clumsy 
story  which  the  sentinels  at  the  tomb  were  bribed  to  tell, 
that  while  they  slept  the  disciples  came  and  stole  away 
the  body.  Had  there  been  any  more  valid  rebutting 
evidence  within  their  reach,  we  may  be  sure  these  busy 
enemies  of  the  gospel  would  have  gathered  and  made 
use  of  it.  But  so  far  as  history  shows  there  was  not  a 
man  of  them  who  dared  to  take  issue  with  the  apostles  as 
to  the  great  fact  which  they  alleged. 

But  Peter  was  not  content  to  rest  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  upon  the  testimony  of  human  witnesses,  conclu- 
sive and  overwhelming  as  that  was.  He  had  learned 
something  from  the  example  of  the  Master  himself. 
When  Christ  showed  himself  alive  to  his  disciples  after 
his  passion  he  was  not  content  to  show  them  his  wounded 
hands  and  side ;  to  speak  to  them  by  name  in  his  old 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.       289 

familiar  tones,  and,  by  such  means,  to  relieve  their 
doubts  and  establish  their  faith.  He  wished  to  have  their 
faith  founded,  not  simply  on  the  testimony  of  their  bodily 
senses,  but  on  that  which  is  the  only  proper  foundation 
of  religious  faith,  tke  word  0/ God.  Hence,  "beginning 
at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets  he  expounded  unto  them 
in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself." 
(Luke  xxiv.  27.)  He  showed  them  how,  in  order 
that  the  Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled,  it  behooved  the 
Christ  to  suffer,  and  to  rise  from  the  dead  on  the  third 
day.  Peter  followed  this  example.  Choosing  a  pas- 
sage from  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  he  showed  his 
hearers  that  its  only  possible  fulfilment  was  in  the  resur- 
rection of  the  Messiah.  David  had  prophesied  in  one  of 
his  psalms,  "Thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hades, 
neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thine  holy  one  to  see  corrup- 
tion." This  word,  in  its  full  meaning,  could  not  have 
been  spoken  of  the  psalmist  himself,  for  it  was  not  ful- 
filled in  his  experience.  His  body  did  see  corruption. 
The  sepulchre  containing  his  dust  was  still  among  them. 
But  it  was  fulfilled,  literally  and  completely,  in  the  ex- 
perience of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  was  the  son  of 
David  according  to  the  flesh,  and  his  promised  successor 
on  the  throne.  His  body  was  not  allowed  to  see  cor- 
ruption, as  his  empty  sepulchre  conclusively  proved. 

In  like  manner,  as  the  same  apostle  teaches  in  one  of 
his  epistles,  the  Holy  Spirit,  through  all  the  prophets, 
had  ' '  testified  beforehand  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and 
the  glory  that  shoidd  follow .' '  (i  Peter  i.  11.)  Through 
a  multitude  of  prophecies  and  types  the  great  event  was 
foreshadowed.  Deny  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  the 
Old  Testament  is  a  sealed  book.  Admit  it,  and  every 
page  becomes  luminous  with  meaning.  What  the  head 
is  to  the  body,  what  the  flower  is  to  the  plant,  or  the 
19 


290  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

fruit  to  the  tree,  such  is  the  fact  of  the  resurrection  to  the 
body  of  revealed  truth.  It  is  the  crown  and  consumma- 
tion of  all  God's  revelations  to  men.  He  who  ''died  for 
our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptures,"  as  Paul  says, 
"rose  again  the  third  day  according  to  the  Script7ires ."" 
(i  Cor.  XV.  4.)  It  was  not  possible,  then,  that  he  should 
be  holden  of  death,  because  **the  Scripture  cannot  be 
broken." 

But  in  the  words  of  our  text  the  apostle  seems  to 
take  a  bolder  position  still,  viz.,  that,  fro?7t  the  veyy  na- 
ture of  the  case,  the  resu7rection  of  Christ  was  inevitable 
and  necessajy.  Not  only  w^as  there  abundant  historical 
proof  that  he  had  risen,  and  numerous  scriptural  predic- 
tions that  he  would  rise,  but,  in  view  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  and  on  account  of  the  principles  in- 
volved, there  was  an  absolute  necessity  that  he  should 
rise.  ' '  It  was  not  possible  that  he  should  be  holden  of 
it."  That  such  an  one  as  he  was  should  be  held  under 
the  power  of  death  was  a  simple  impossibility. 

First,  there  was  a  moral  impossibility  in  the  case.  To 
appreciate  this,  consider  what  manner  of  man  he  w^ 
Peter  here  speaks  of  him  as  ' '  a  man  approved  of  God  ' '  ; 
that  is,  he  was  divinely  attested  and  sealed  as  one  com- 
missioned of  God.  Not  only  so,  he  was  one  upon  whom 
the  eye  of  God  rested  with  unqualified  approval.  * '  He 
knew  no  sin."  He  distinctly  claimed  that  he  had  no 
consciousness  of  sin.  He  said,  "I  do  always  those 
things  that  please  the  Father  "  ;  '  *  the  prince  of  this 
world  cometh,  and  hath  nothing  in  me."  (John  xiv.  30.) 
To  his  enemies  he  said,  ' '  Which  of  you  convinceth  me 
of  sin?"  (John  viii.  46.)  And  his  whole  life  was  con- 
sistent with  this  high  claim.  No  wrong  was  ever  dis- 
covered in  him,  either  by  the  intimacy  of  his  friends  or 
the  malignity  of  his  foes.     The  judge  who  condemned 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.      29I 

him  said,  "I  find  no  fault  in  him."  The  apostate  who 
betrayed  him  confessed,  ' '  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent 
blood."  The  centurion  who  superintended  his  execu- 
tion said,  *  *  Certainly  this  was  a  righteous  man. ' '  (Luke 
xxiii.  47.)  Nor  has  the  searching  scrutiny  of  later 
times  discovered  aught  to  change  this  verdict.  So  far  as 
I  know,  the  man  has  yet  to  be  found  who,  after  a  careful 
study  of  the  facts  of  his  life,  has  dared  to  stand  up  before 
an  intelligent  public  and  charge  Jesus  Christ  with  any 
moral  obliquity.  By  common  consent  he  is  acknow- 
ledged to  have  been  a  man  without  sin.  He  was  *  *  holy, 
harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from  sinners."  Yet, 
upon  the  testimony  of  suborned  witnesses,  he  was  con- 
demned and  crucified  as  a  malefactor.  For  the  first  time 
since  the  world  began  was  an  innocent,  sinless  man 
brought  under  the  power  of  death.  Never  before  had 
death  taken  such  prey  in  his  toils.  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  David,  and  Daniel  died,  and  their  bodies  saw 
corruption.  But  they  were  sinners,  all  of  them,  and 
hence  the  legitimate  prey  of  death ;  for  * '  the  wages  of 
sjp.  is  death."  Here,  however,  was  one  who  had  done 
no  sin ;  in  whom  nothing  worthy  of  death  was  found  by 
God  or  men.  Was  it  possible  for  death  to  hold  such  an 
one?  Not  if  righteousness  reigns.  If  death  may  reign 
where  sin  has  not  reigned  ;  if  death  may  invade  the 
realm  of  innocence  and  claim  as  his  own  one  who  belongs 
to  that  realm,  then  the  cause  of  God  and  righteousness  is 
a  losing  cause.  If  there  be  a  just  and  almighty  God 
upon  the  throne  of  the  universe,  and  if  Jesus  Christ  were 
such  an  one  as  he  is  here  represented,  and  as  he  is  gene- 
rally acknowledged  to  have  been,  then  there  was  a  divine 
necessity  that  he  should  rise.  We  do  not  forget  the  uni- 
formity and  inviolability  of  natural  law,  but  we  remem- 
ber likewise  the  awful  supremacy  of  moral  law.     We 


292  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

admit  that  the  forces  of  nature  are  mighty  ;  but  we  insist 
that  the  forces  of  righteousness  are  mightier.  These  are 
the  forces  which  were  appealed  to,  and  which  fought  for 
his  deliverance.  What  boots  it  to  say  that  the  alleged 
event  was  exceptional,  a  revolt  from  the  established 
order  of  things,  and  therefore  incredible  ?  Our  answer 
is,  the  man  was  exceptional.  Never  was  there  another 
like  him  among  the  sons  of  men.  Find  another  man 
who  is  "without  sin  "  ;  let  him  be  ** crucified,  dead,  and 
buried, ' '  and  we  promise  you  another  resurrection  ;  for, 
if  might  be  on  the  side  of  right  in  God's  universe,  it  is 
not  possible  for  a  righteous  man  to  be  holden  of  death. 

Again,  there  was  not  only  a  moral  necessity  that 
Christ  should  rise,  there  was  also  a  Jiatural  necessity  in 
the  case,  a  necessity  ''planted  in  the  nature  of  things." 
To  appreciate  this  we  must  remember  that  he  claimed 
to  be  something  more  than  a  sinless  man.  He  claimed 
to  be,  and  was  proven  to  be,  in  a  sense  peculiar  to  him- 
self, the  Son  of  God,  "his  only  begotten  Son,"  possessed 
of  a  divine  nature  and  a  divine  life.  Simon  Peter  had 
been  led  to  know  and  acknowledge  him  in  this  charac- 
ter. In  response  to  the  question,  "Whom  say  ye  that  I 
am?"  he  had  made  the  noble  and  accepted  answer, 
"Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God." 
(Matt.  xvi.  16.) 

The  charge  preferred  against  him  before  the  Jewish 
high  priest  was  that  he  called  himself  the  Son  of  God, 
thus  making  himself  God.  And  when  the  high  priest 
adjured  him  to  tell  them  if  he  w^as  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  God,  he  gave  an  afiirmative  answer.  Upon  that  they 
adjudged  him  worthy  of  death,  because  he  had  spoken 
blasphemy.  (Matt.  xxvi.  63-66.)  It  was  a  stupendous 
claim  for  one  in  the  form  of  man,  but  every  part  of  his 
life  was  in  harmony  with  the  claim.     It  was  a  divine 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.       293 

life.  He  showed  a  wisdom  which  was  more  than  hu- 
man. ''Never  man  spake  like  this  man,"  was  the 
testimony  of  his  cotemporaries,  and  is  the  confession  of 
the  thinking  world  to-day.  He  exercised  a  compassion 
and  love  which  were  divine.  His  purity  was  divinely 
stainless.  He  wielded  a  power  which  was  the  power 
of  God.  The  winds  and  the  waves  obeyed  him  ;  devils, 
and  death  itself,  were  subject  to  his  word.  If  he  was 
not  divine,  pray  tell  us  wherein  he  lacked  of  being 
divine  ?     What  attribute  of  God  did  he  fail  to  exhibit  ? 

Such  being  his  nature,  and  his  relation  to  God  the 
Father,  his  life  was  not  the  created,  dependent  life  of  a 
creature.  He  says,  ''As  the  Father  hath  life  in  himself, 
so  hath  he  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself." 
(John  V.  26.)  "In  him  was  life;  and  the  life  was  the 
light  of  men."  (John  i.  4.)  Again,  he  says,  "I  am 
the  resurrection,  and  the  life."  (John  xi.  25.)  "I  am 
the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  (John  xiv.  6.)  He 
is  the  Prince  of  life ;  the  author,  the  source  of  life ;  as 
Schaff  says,  the  "life  of  every  life." 

Now,  remembering  all  this,  let  us  go  to  the  tomb  of 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  and  what  do  we  see  ?  The  eternal 
Son  of  God,  the  Prince  of  life,  held  in  the  embrace  of 
death !  That  he  should  have  condescended  to  that  con- 
dition is  the  marvelous  mystery  of  grace ;  that  he  should 
be  kept  in  it  is  an  impossible  thought.  Death  must 
yield  his  mighty  prey.  A  grain  of  sand  may  be  held 
passive  and  submissive  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth ;  but 
not  so  a  living  grain  of  wheat.  It  must  and  will  spring 
up  in  a  new  and  higher  life.  In  the  city  of  Hanover, 
Germany,  there  is  said  to  be  an  old  graveyard  in  which 
is  the  tomb  of  a  woman  who  belonged  to  an  ancient 
and  noble  family.  It  is  covered  with  massive  blocks 
of  stone,   which  are  fastened  together  with  heavy  iron 


294  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

clamps.  On  one  of  the  stones  these  words  are  carved: 
' '  This  grave,  bought  for  all  time,  must  never  be  opened. ' ' 
But  years  ago  a  little  seed  found  lodgment  in  the  crevice 
between  the  stones.  It  took  root  and  grew,  until  now 
a  splendid  tree  waves  its  branches  over  the  tomb.  And 
as  the  roots  have  grown,  and  the  trunk  enlarged,  heed- 
less of  the  carved  admonition,  the  great  stones  have 
been  lifted,  and  the  iron  clamps  broken  asunder.  Such 
is  the  power  of  life,  even  of  the  created  life  that  is 
wrapped  up  in  a  little  seed.  What  wonder,  then,  that 
he  who  had  * '  life  in  himself, ' '  who  was  ' '  the  resurrec- 
tion, and  the  life,"  should  burst  the  bands  of  death,  and 
triumph  over  the  grave?  Men  rolled  a  stone  to  the  door 
of  the  sepulchre,  and  sealed  it,  and  set  armed  sentinels 
to  guard  it.  But  how  vain  their  efforts  were !  As  well 
might  they  have  tried  to  seal  up  the  morning  in  the 
womb  of  night,  and  prevent  its  dawn ;  or  to  lock  up  the 
spring  in  the  embrace  of  winter,  and  forbid  the  flowers 
to  bloom  and  the  trees  to  bud.  It  was  not  possible  for 
him  to  be  holden  of  death. 

Then,  my  brethren,  **we  have  not  followed  cun- 
ningly-devised fables ' '  when  we  have  built  our  hopes 
on  him  *'who  was  delivered  for  our  offences,  and  was 
raised  again  for  our  justification."  "The  Lord  is  risen 
indeed."  His  resurrection  is  not  a  myth,  but  a  fact. 
A  fact  attested  as  no  other  fact  in  ancient  history  has 
been  attested.  A  fact  foreshadowed  by  numerous  pro- 
phecies and  types  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  A 
fact  to  be  expected  as  the  inevitable  and  necessary  out- 
come of  the  eternal  principles  which  were  involved.  Let 
us  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  it.  It  tells  us  of  an  accepted 
sacrifice,  a  completed  redemption,  a  purchased  inheri- 
tance of  life  and  glory.  It  is  the  pledge  of  our  own 
resurrection.      The  risen  Christ  is  the  firstfruits  of  them 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.     295 

that  sleep.  ' '  If  the  Spirit  of  him  that  raised  up  Jesus 
from  the  dead  dwell  in  you,  he  that  raised  up  Christ  from 
the  dead  shall  also  quicken  your  mortal  bodies  by  his 
Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you. ' '      (Romans  viii.  ii .) 

Yes,  if  his  Spirit  dwell  in  us,  the  text  becomes  true  of 
us,  as  of  him.  It  is  not  possible  for  death  to  hold  us. 
We  must  rise.  "  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  according  to  his  abundant  mercy 
hath  begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively  hope  by  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  to  an  inheritance 
incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away." 
(i  Peter  i.  3,  4.) 


NATURAL    LAW    AND    DIVINE    PROVL 
DENCE. 

BY  REV.  PEYTON  H.  HOGE,  D.  D., 
Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyteriaji  Church,    Wilmington,  N.  C. 


"Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing?  and  one  of  them 
shall  not  fall  on  the  ground  without  your  Father." — Matthew 
X.  29. 

TWO  theories  of  the  universe  contend  for  the  mastery 
in  the  world  to-day,  the  mechanical  and  the 
paternal. 
Modern  science  has  demonstrated  by  an  ever- widening 
induction  the  universal  reign  of  law.  The  silent  move- 
ments of  the  heavenly  host ;  the  revolutions  of  the  earth 
as  it  turns  on  its  axis  or  swings  in  its  orbit  round  the 
sun,  causing  the  alternations  of  day  and  night  and  the 
ever-changing  panorama  of  the  seasons ;  the  rise  and  fall 
of  the  tides,  the  shifting  of  the  fickle  wind,  the  circula- 
tion of  moisture  as  it  ascends  in  vapor,  condenses  in 
cloud,  descends  in  rain,  and  flows  in  rill  and  torrent  and 
river  back  to  ocean  again  ;  the  springing  of  the  germ  in 
the  earth,  the  growth  of  blade  and  flower  and  fruit,  till 
the  earth  is  clothed  with  beauty,  and  waving  harvests 
and  ripening  fruit  provide  food  for  man  and  beast ;  all 
have  been  shown  to  come  under  the  operation  and  do- 
minion of  regular  and  unchanging  laws,  inexorably 
working  out  fixed  results.  Every  element  has  its  fixed 
laws  of  combination  with  every  other  element;  every 
force  its  regular  play  of  action  upon  every  other  force ; 

296 


j^C  :-- 


NATURAL  LAW  AND  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  297 

every  form  of  life  its  changeless  conditions  for  develop- 
ment, retrogression  or  destruction  ;  even  sentient  beings 
have  their  prescribed  modes  of  action ;  the  flight  of  the 
lark,  the  song  of  the  nightingale,  the  roar  of  the  lion, 
the  spring  of  the  tiger,  are  as  much  in  obedience  to  law 
as  the  fall  of  an  apple  or  the  flash  of  a  thunderbolt.  Man 
himself  is  born,  grows,  labors  and  dies,  the  subject  of 
natural  law.  The  very  configuration  of  the  earth  we  in- 
habit is  the  result  of  the  operation  of  law.  Law-abiding 
waters  sifted  its  elements  and  built  up  its  rock-ribbed 
frame.  Law-abiding  earthquakes  heaved  up  the  solid 
mass  of  the  mountains  ;  and  waters  descending  in  obedi- 
ence to  law  carved  them  into  hills  and  valleys. 

From  these  known  facts  of  science,  men  have  leaped 
to  the  conclusion  that  this  mighty  mechanism  of  nature 
is  only  a  machine;  that  whether  originally  caused  by 
some  being  who  has  left  it  to  work  out  its  own  results, 
or  whether  itself  uncaused,  and  evolving  all  its  laws  out 
of  its  own  inherent  forces,  it  is  now  a  mere  machine, 
blind  to  results  and  regardless  of  consequences. 

Such  a  universe  must  be  purposeless.  If  there  is  no 
intelligence  there  can  be  no  will.  The  sun  shines  be- 
cause it  must,  and  not  to  clothe  a  world  with  beauty  or 
to  ripen  the  harvests  for  the  food  of  man.  The  rains 
descend  from  necessity,  and  not  to  water  the  earth  that 
it  may  give  seed  to  the  sower  and  bread  to  the  eater. 
The  rivers  flow  because  water  runs  downhill,  and  not  to 
fill  the  valleys  with  corn,  and  to  girdle  the  hills  with 
joy. 

Such  a  universe  must  be  heartless.  It  is  nothing  to 
the  mill  whether  it  grinds  the  corn  to  feed  the  hungry, 
or  whether  it  mangles  the  limbs  of  a  helpless  child.  So 
nature  is  as  indifferent  to  the  sorrows  of  her  children  as 
to  their  joys.     The  wind  cares  not  whether  it  sinks  the 


298  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

laden  ships  or  wafts  them  to  their  desired  haven.  The 
sea  will  sport  with  a  child  upon  the  beach,  and  then  en- 
gulf it  in  its  treacherous  embrace. 

Such  a  universe  must  be  conscienceless.  It  has  no 
concern  for  the  righteous  or  the  wicked.  It  may  pour 
its  plenty  into  the  lap  of  the  wicked,  and  heap  its  sorrows 
upon  the  head  of  the  righteous  ;  and  there  is  no  court  of 
appeals  where  wrongs  can  be  righted,  sin  punished  and 
virtue  rewarded. 

In  such  a  universe  worship  is  an  absurdity,  prayer  a 
mockery  and  religion  a  delusion.  Let  us  eat  and  drink, 
for  to-morrow  we  die. 

Over  against  this  mechanical,  soulless  theory  of  the 
universe  we  place  the  paternal  theory  as  it  is  found  in 
the  words  of  the  text  and  in  all  the  teachings  of  our 
Lord.  Not  that  he  announced  it  as  a  theory.  Nothing  was 
theory  in  his  teachings.  A  theory  is  a  supposition  that 
gives  a  reasonable  explanation  of  known  facts ;  but  with 
him  the  explanation  is  announced  as  knowm  as  clearly 
as  the  facts.  He  taught  as  one  having  authority.  **  We 
speak  that  we  do  know,  and  testify  that  we  have  seen." 
But  to  the  world,  before  it  accepts  the  teachings  and  au- 
thority of  Christ,  his  revelation  of  the  Father,  and  the 
Father's  care  for  his  children  must  be  considered  as  one 
of  the  theories  on  which  we  seek  to  account  for  the  facts 
of  the  universe. 

According,  then,  to  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ,  God, 
the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  exercises  a  fatherly 
care  over  all  his  creatures.  He  singles  out  one  of  the 
least  by  way  of  example.  Their  little  bodies  could  be 
seen  any  day  hanging  in  the  market  in  long  strings. 
A  trifling  copper  coin  could  purchase  two  of  them  for 
a  meagre  meal.  Yet,  says  our  Lord,  no  winter's  blast 
is  keen  enough,  no  bird  of  prey  is  swift  enough,   no 


NATURAL  LAW  AND  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  299 

archer's  aim  is  sure  enough,  no  fowler's  snare  is  cun- 
ning enough  to  bring  to  the  ground  one  of  the  least  of 
these  creatures  until  God's  time  has  come  to  still  the 
beatings  of  the  little  fluttering  heart,  and  fold  forever 
the  wings  that  bore  it  in  happy  flight.  They  have 
neither  store-house  nor  barn,  they  sow  not,  neither  do 
they  reap;  yet  the  Father  feedeth  them.  It  is  he  who 
clothes  the  very  grass  of  the  field  with  fabrics  of 
richer  lustre  than  the  royal  robes,  of  Solomon,  in  all  their 
glory  of  Tyrian  dye  and  gold  of  Ophir.  All  of  beauty, 
all  of  sustenance,  all  of  protecting  care  our  heavenly 
Father  gives  to  the  earth  and  its  creatures.  Then  what 
of  his  children?  "Are  ye  not  much  better  than  they?" 
"Fear  not,"  says  the  Master  to  them,  "ye  are  of  more 
value  than  many  sparrows."  So  tender  is  the  Father's 
care  of  them  that  the  very  hairs  of  their  head  are  all 
numbered. 

This  theory  of  a  divine  providence,  universal  and  spe- 
cial, wide  as  creation  and  particular  as  the  hairs  of  our 
heads,  governing  the  stars  in  their  courses,  and  the 
sparrows  in  their  flight  and  fall,  is  what  we  all  as  Chris- 
tians profess  to  believe.  And  yet  there  are  few  of  us, 
perhaps,  who  have  not  sometimes  been  troubled  as  to 
just  how  to  reconcile  such  a  providence  with  the  known 
facts  of  natural  law.  What  place  is  there  for  providence, 
faith,  and  prayer,  in  a  universe  governed  by  unchanging 
and  inexorable  law  ? 

In  answer  to  this  question,  I  would  suggest,  first,  that 
if  this  universe  is  a  machine,  it  is  a  machine  of  God's 
planning.  Science  has  nothing  to  say  against  that. 
When  men  make  a  machine  they  make  it  to  do  a  certain 
work,  but  it  may  do  other  things  for  which  it  was  never 
intended.  We  make  a  locomotive  to  pull  our  trains ;  it 
may  crush  the  life  out  of  its  own  maker.     But  God's 


300  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

planning  is  complete  and  perfect.  *  *  Known  unto  God 
are  all  his  works,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world." 
In  planning  his  universe,  the  least  as  well  as  the  greatest 
events  enter  into  his  plan,  and  often  the  greatest  events 
turn  upon  those  that  seem  the  most  trivial.  God  is  too 
great  for  anything  to  appear  insignificant  in  his  eyes, 
and  if  the  sparrow  cannot  fall  to  the  ground  without 
your  Father,  it  is  because  the  sparrow,  with  all  the 
forces  and  circumstances  that  govern  its  life,  is  a  part 
of  God's  great  plan. 

Some  of  you  have  seen  at  the  World's  Fair,  or  other 
recent  expositions,  those  beautiful  machines  for  weaving 
pictures  in  silk.  If  you  examined  them  closely  3^ou 
must  have  noticed  that  folds  of  stiff  paper,  perforated 
with  many  holes,  were  regularly  fed  to  the  machine 
from  above.  That  was  the  pattern.  The  position  of 
those  holes  governed  the  shifting  threads  of  the  warp 
and  directed  the  motions  of  the  many-colored  shut- 
tles as  they  flew  in  and  out.  A  defect  in  the  pattern, 
or  a  failure  in  any  part  of  the  machine  to  respond  to  the 
pattern,  would  have  marred  the  perfect  picture.  So  God 
has  ordained  all  causes  as  well  as  all  effects,  and  we 
need  not  fear  even  to  pray  to  our  Father  according  to  his 
word,  for  if  he  has  made  this  universe  to  run  by  prayer, 
the  prayer  is  as  essential  to  the  working  out  of  his  plan 
as  the  force  of  gravitation  to  the  movements  of  the 
spheres. 

But  if  we  look  only  at  this  aspect  of  the  subject,  we 
may  fall  into  a  fatalistic  conception  of  God  and  his  uni- 
verse. Our  prayers,  if  we  pray,  may  become  perfunc- 
tory and  formal,  and  we  will  not  pray  and  trust  as  those 
who  are  coming  to  the  sympathetic  heart  of  a  living  Fa- 
ther. Let  us  remember,  then,  that  God's  universe  is 
not  a  machine  which  he  has  planned  and  wound  up,  and 


NATURAL  LAW  AND  DIVINE   PROVIDENCE.         30I 

then  withdrawn  himself  from  all  interest  in  its  working. 
We  must  picture  him  as  rejoicing  in  the  work  of  his 
hands ;  as  watching  with  sympathetic  interest  and  pleas- 
ure the  development  of  all  his  plans.  If,  in  the  working 
out  of  his  gracious  purposes,  his  creatures,  or,  yet  more, 
his  children,  suffer,  his  heart  is  responsive  to  their  cry, 
even  while  he  is  too  wise  and  too  really  tender  to  turn  aside 
from  the  beneficent  ends  that  he  has  in  view;  and 
when  he  sends  deliverance,  it  is  just  as  truly  he  that 
sends  it,  and  it  comes  as  fresh  from  his  fatherly  heart, 
as  if  both  the  sorrow  and  the  respite  had  not  been  a  part 
of  his  purpose  from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
Thus  tenderly  he  loves  the  sparrows,  thus  tenderly  he 
marks  their  fall.     Are  ye  not  much  better  than  they? 

But  God's  present  relation  to  his  universe  is  not  con- 
fined to  his  loving  and  sympathetic  interest  in  the  de- 
velopment of  his  purposes.  I  do  not  believe  that  science 
has  reached  the  ultimate  source  of  power  when  it  has 
discovered  a  law  of  nature.  There  is  no  inherent  power 
in  a  natural  law.  It  is  only  an  observed  order  of  action. 
In  itself  it  explains  nothing.  Take,  for  instance,  one  of 
the  most  universal  of  all  these  laws,  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion. We  know  that  if  we  let  go  an  object  from  our 
hands  it  will  fall  to  the  earth.  We  know  that  the  same 
force  swings  the  earth  in  its  orbit  round  the  sun,  and 
binds  together  all  systems  by  invisible  chains.  But  why 
has  matter  this  attraction  for  other  matter?  Who  can 
tell?  One  of  the  most  brilliant  of  American  astronomers 
has  said  that  the  more  he  has  studied  it  the  more  has  he 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  only  explanation  which 
can  be  given  is  just  that  God  wills  it  so.  To  this  source 
at  last  we  must  trace  all  energy.  Natural  laws  are  but 
the  modes  in  which  God's  power  expresses  itself.  Hence, 
all  energy  and  life  in  the  universe  are  but  manifestations 


302  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

of  the  life  and  power  of  the  living  God.  He  upholds  all 
things  by  the  word  of  his  power.  In  him  we  live,  and 
move,  and  have  our  being.  He  is  the  God  in  whose 
hand  our  breath  is,  and  whose  are  all  our  ways.  If  for 
one  moment  he  withdrew  the  sustaining  power  of  his 
will,  all  things  would  return  to  chaos,  or  vanish  into 
nothingness.  But  he  is  faithful  to  his  creatures.  Seed- 
time and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and 
winter,  shall  not  fail.  Thus,  it  is  God  that  feeds  the 
ravens  and  clothes  the  lilies.  And  we,  too,  may  come 
with  trusting  hearts  and  pray,  "Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread." 

And  is  this  all?  Is  God's  providence  confined  to  the 
sustaining  of  natural  laws  and  his  sympathetic  interest 
in  the  working  out  of  his  eternal  purpose  ?  Those  who 
argue  thus  strangely  forget  the  domain  of  the  action  of 
the  human  will.  All  things  in  the  world  are  not  the  un- 
aided and  unmodified  result  of  natural  law.  Whatevei 
is  true  of  other  beings,  men  are  endowed  with  the  power 
of  iriterfereyice.  Man  can  play  law  against  law,  so  as  to 
bring  out  results  just  the  opposite  of  unaided  natural  law. 
It  is  the  nature  of  water  to  run  downhill.  Man  confines 
it,  and  makes  that  very  law  force  it  upward  into  his 
dwellings.  Gravity  draws  objects  to  the  earth.  But 
by  that  very  law  man  lifts  himself  to  the  clouds  by  at- 
taching himself  to  a  bag  inflated  with  some  gas  lighter 
than  the  surrounding  air.  Whether  or  not  Elisha  by  a 
miracle  made  the  iron  to  swim  in  ancient  days,  men, 
without  any  miracle,  are  in  these  days  sailing  the  seas 
in  iron  ships,  and  fighting  each  other  with  massive  can- 
non from  floating  fortresses.  Every  product  of  art  and 
manufacture,  every  achievement  of  invention  and  dis- 
cover3^,  is  the  interference  of  human  will  with  the  natu- 
ral working  of  nature's  laws.     Even  the  harvests  that 


NATURAL  LAW  AND   DIVINE    PROVIDENCE.  303 

Spring  from  earth's  bosom  are  the  oultivation  of  man, 
and  the  breeds  of  cattle  that  walk  the  earth  are  improved 
by  art  and  man's  device.  Even  where  the  naked  savage 
roams  the  forest,  we  can  trace  him  by  his  handiwork. 
Life,  the  supreme  gift  of  nature,  may  be  destroyed  by 
his  wrath,  or  prolonged  by  his  skill  and  care.  He  may 
strike  down  the  sparrow  on  his  nest,  or  his  fellow-man 
in  his  bed ;  or  he  may  drive  away  the  destroyer  from  his 
victim ;  or  his  own  heart  may  relent  when  his  hand  is 
raised  for  the  blow. 

This  wide  sphere  of  freedom  is  left  to  man,  as  our  own 
observation  and  experience  teach  us.  And  has  the  crea- 
ture a  power  the  exercise  of  which  is  denied  to  the  Crea- 
tor?    Let  us  see. 

Of  the  action  of  the  divine  will  upon  the  human  will 
science  is  silent.  Whatever  takes  place  in  that  realm  is 
back  of  human  consciousness,  and  so  does  not  offer  itself 
to  investigation.  But  for  that  very  reason  science  op- 
poses no  objection  to  the  revelations  of  Scripture.  **The 
king's  heart  is  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord;  as  the  rivers  of 
water,  he  turneth  it  whithersoever  he  will. "  * '  It  is  God 
that  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good 
pleasure."  We  cannot  open  the  door  to  the  action  of 
the  human  soul  upon  the  material  universe  without  at 
the  same  time  opening  the  door  to  the  action  of  the  di- 
vine Spirit  through  its  influence  upon  the  human  soul. 
And  when  we  consider  the  almost  infinite  possibilities 
for  our  weal  or  woe  that  are  lodged  in  the  hands  of  our 
fellow-men,  and  how  at  every  turn  our  life  may  be 
blessed  or  blasted  by  their  actions,  it  is  no  small  part  of 
the  comfort  of  our  faith  in  divine  Providence  that  he  holds 
the  hearts  of  men  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  and  guides, 
directs,  suggests,  controls  their  thoughts  and  words  and 
actions,   to  bring  about   his    purposes   of  grace  to  the 


304  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

meanest  of  his  creatures  and  to  the  least  of  his  children. 
If  he  stays  the  hand  or  mars  the  aim  that  seeks  the  spar- 
row's life  ;  if  he  sends  the  hand  that  scatters  seed  or 
crumbs  when  winter's  snows  have  covered  the  ground, 
need  we  fear  for  protection  and  sustenance?  We  are  of 
more  value  than  many  sparrows. 

But  if  man,  without  violating  nature's  laws,  can  inter- 
fere with  and  modify  their  actions,  what  shall  we  say  of 
those  more  highly-endowed  beings  whose  existence  is 
revealed  to  us  in  the  Scriptures  ?  '  *  Are  they  not  all 
ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  for  them  who 
shall  be  heirs  of  salvation  ?  "  So  the  Scriptures  teach, 
but  what  has  science  to  say?  Nothing,  except  this,  that 
it  finds  no  trace  of  their  action.  Is  that  conclusive 
against  their  agency  and  ministry?  Not  at  all.  The 
beast  that  treads  the  earth  leaves  his  footprints  behind 
by  which  we  can  trace  his  path.  But  who  can  follow  the 
track  of  the  fish  that  parts  the  mobile  waters,  or  the  bird 
that  cleaves  the  yielding  air  ?  We  see  the  marks  of  the 
tool  upon  the  stone  rough-hewn  from  the  quarry,  but 
not  upon  the  polished  slab  or  the  finished  statue.  It  is 
the  perfection  of  the  work  that  obliterates  the  traces  of 
the  workman.  So  this  angel  ministry  may  be  all  about 
us,  guiding  and  controlling  the  forces  of  nature,  and  yet 
their  footfalls  make  no  sound  and  leave  no  trace,  and  the 
marks  of  their  handiwork  remain,  like  themselves,  un- 
seen. However  that  may  be,  it  is  surely  preposterous  to 
say  that  God  may  not  thus  work  through  nature's  laws, 
albeit  with  an  unseen  hand.  We  watch  the  musician  as 
his  fingers  pass  over  the  keys  of  the  organ,  and  we  under- 
stand w^hy  the  key  goes  down  and  the  note  sounds,  be- 
cause we  see  the  touch  of  his  finger.  But  couple  the 
lower  to  the  upper  bank  of  keys,  and  when  he  plays  on 
the  lower  the  corresponding  keys  of  the  upper  bank  go 


NATURAL  LAW  AND  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  .  305 

down  as  though  touched  by  unseen  fingers.  And  it 
would  be  easy  to  connect  both  key-boards  with  another 
key-board  out  of  sight,  played  by  an  unseen  musician, 
while  the  visible  keys  responded  to  the  touch  of  an  in- 
visible hand.  Such  a  mechanism  would  seem  to  the  un- 
initiated to  be  automatic.  So  with  God's  interference  in 
nature.  Nature's  laws  are  but  the  keys  and  levers  that 
connect  his  will  with  the  results  achieved.  We  hear  the 
sound,  we  even  see  the  movements  of  the  keys  and 
levers,  but  we  see  not  the  hand;  yet  God's  controlling 
hand  is  on  every  key,  and  at  his  touch  the  great  organ 
sings  and  throbs  with  the  eternal  harmonies  of  his  will. 

It  is  idle  to  say  that  the  facts  of  nature  are  sufficieritly 
accounted  for  without  supposing  the  immediate  action  of 
God.  The  sphere  of  our  ignorance  is  still  too  vast  for  us 
to  say  there  is  no  need  for  God's  intervention.  When 
the  Son  of  God  was  on  earth  the  winds  and  the  waves 
obeyed  him,  and  at  his  word  or  touch  disease  fled  away. 
In  the  wide  demain  of  the  elements  in  their  ceaseless 
play,  in  the  recondite  laws  of  life  and  health  and  their 
constant  warfare  against  disease  and  danger,  we  never 
know  when  the  modifying  touch  of  the  divine  hand  pro- 
duces results  that  nature  unaided  could  never  have 
achieved.  God  is  still  the  Lord  of  nature.  He  is  still 
the  great  Physician.  And  not  a  sparrow  falleth  to  the 
ground  without  your  Father. 

This  world,  then,  is  still  our  Father's  house.  The 
universe  is  still  subject  to  our  Father's  will.  It  is  a 
universe,  then,  with  a  heart  in  it,  and  it  is  no  idle  thing 
for  us  to  draw  near  to  God  in  spirit,  and  say,  "Our 
Father  which  art  in  heaven."  Prayer  is  not  a  mere 
spiritual  exercise.  It  reaches  the  heart  of  God,  and 
sways  the  hand  that  rules  the  universe. 

This  is,  likewise,  a  place  for  righteousness .      '  *  Say  ye  to 


306  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

the  righteous,  It  shall  be  well  with  him, ' '  is  a  living  voice 
to-day.  ' '  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  right- 
eousness "  is  no  obsolete  command,  and  it  is  no  meaning- 
less promise  that  "all  these  things  " — food,  clothing,  pro- 
tection—  "shall  be  added  unto  you."  A  life  of  trust  is 
still  the  true  and  only  life  for  happiness  and  peace,  since 
it  is  our  Father  that  is  making  "all  things  work  to- 
gether for  good  to  them  that  love  him." 

And  in  this,  our  Father's  house,  there  is  a  place  for 
pardon,  for  redemption,  for  salvation.  The  birds,  which 
know  only  his  providential  care,  may  sing  in  uncon- 
scious innocence  a  Father's  praise.  But  we,  his  chil- 
dren, may  sing  a  new  and  nobler  song,  a  song  of  pardon- 
ing, redeeming  love :  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  belie veth 
in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 


4'f  * 


TAKE  HOLD  OF  GOD. 

HV  REV.  JAMES  I.   VANCE,  D.   IJ., 
'.or  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Nashinlle,  Tenn. 


'  Let  him  take  hold  of  ray  strength. 
with  me."— Isaiah  xxvii.  5. 


(.t  he  may  make  peace 


Got)  is  the  speaker,  and  he  sends  us  a  call  through 
(}i;o  .'.  v.:  >  •''>mrc..     He  wants  us  to  come  up 

1  ch  him.     We  have  been  st^^iid- 

\dth  a  great  stretch  ry 

.      ,  .  ..       We  have  been  fin^^" 

the   Almighty.     He   fails   to   manage   t,; 
suit  us.     As  a  coterie  of  vd  critics  we  intve  been 

standing  away '^^^" '^^   •'  -^'^  -'^ssly  the  dismal 

clamor  of  our  co  ome  up  closer, 

and  you  can  see  bcu  -id  you  will  get 

a  new  perspective.  ..,  ..uerulous  com- 

plaints will  change  into  ;  et  htm  take  hold  of 

my  strength,  that  he  may  make  peace  with  n^f. 

We  spend  so  much  of  our  time  on  trifles.  ..^.^.o:-,e 
you  work  out  a  little  sum  in  arithmetic.  Take  the  past; 
week  and  tell  us  how  you  spent  it.  One- third  of  it  went 
into  sleep.  Of  the  remainder,  how  much  was  spffnt  in 
idle  conversation  that  left  no  mpre  behind  it  than  the 
wnnd  that  whistles  past  you  on  the  street  ?  How  much 
was  spent  in  amusement,  in  the  arduous  eftbrt  to  make 
leisure  that  w^ould  otherwise  be  insuiferaWy  tame  pass 
with  some  degree  of  delight?     How  much  was  spent  in 

that  which   i-^  rpirvlx'   niMtf^rr!] '^       TTow   n:>v'  ■;    \vt^  ci^-nV  in 


308  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

eating  and  drinking  and  reading?  How  much  of  the 
past  week  did  you  devote  to  that  which  will  live  on  after 
your  seventy  years  are  out  and  bring  something  at  the 
bar  of  eternity  ?  After  all  we  are  like  children  blowing 
soap-bubbles  out  of  a  clay  pipe,  forgetting  that  the  bub- 
bles burst  fast  and  the  clay  is  soon  broken.  But  the 
process  is  entertaining,  time  passes,  and  the  bubbles  are 
beautiful,  as  a  sunbeam  falls  upon  the  shining  disk  and 
paints  it  over  with  rainbows.  Still  the  air  moves  and 
the  bubbles  burst ;  but  we  can  blow  another,  and  so  we 
keep  on  blowing,  blowing  ! 

God  says  there  is  bigger  work  for  us.  The  text  calls 
us  to  spend  our  life  on  that  which  is  not  a  trifle — God! 
Take  hold  of  him.  God  is  not  a  trifle,  heaven  is  not  a 
bubble,  religion  is  not  a  form  of  amusement.  Take  hold 
of  these.  They  dignify  and  ennoble  life  here.  They 
invest  the  insignificances  of  time  wath  importance,  and 
have  a  durable  value  which  eternity  will  not  destroy, 
but  enhance. 

There  is  a  downward  drift  in  everything  that  belongs 
to  this  world.  The  law  of  the  world  is  degeneration. 
You  have  only  to  let  anything  alone  and  it  wall  go  to  the 
devil  of  itself.  Let  a  ship  alone  and  it  will  wreck  itself. 
Let  a  house  alone  and  it  will  by-and-by  tumble  down  of 
its  own  depravity.  Let  a  man  alone  and  he  will  degen- 
erate. God  would  counteract  this  downward  drift.  His 
whole  effort  is  to  make  something  out  of  us — the  best. 
For  degeneration  he  substitutes  regeneration.  He  would 
put  an  end  to  our  trifling  and  set  us  afire  with  great  am- 
bitions to  amount  to  something  in  his  glorious  kingdom 
of  redeemed  and  enthroned  manhood  and  womanhood. 
He  says  to  every  one  of  us  :  "  Take  hold  of  my  strength, 
that  you  may  have  peace."  There  are  three  thoughts 
in  the  text :     First,    the   human    element  in    religion ; 


TAKE  HOLD  OF  GOD.  309 

second,  the  divine  element  in  religion;  and  third,  the 
product  of  their  union. 

I,  There  is  a  human  side  to  7'eligion.  Man  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  getting  himself  saved.  "  Let  him  take 
hold. ' '  People  do  not  drift  into  heaven  any  more  than  a 
ship  drifts  up  to  its  landing  at  the  pier.  If  you  want  to 
possess  yourself  of  God  you  must  take  him.  You  cannot 
buy  salvation,  to  be  sure  ;  you  cannot  earn  it,  you  cannot 
deserve  it,  but  if  it  is  ever  yours  you  must  take  it. 

There  are  those  who  believe  altogether  too  much  in 
divine  sovereignty,  or  rather  who  frame  into  their  creed 
a  monstrous  distortion  of  the  doctrine  of  divine  sov- 
ereignty. They  make  it  synonymous  with  fatalism. 
They  reason  this  way  :  ' '  The  Almighty  made  the  uni- 
verse and  he  is  responsible  for  it.  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
interfere  with  his  prearranged  plans.  If  he  wants  me 
redeemed,  he  must  see  to  it.  If  he  wants  to  send  me  to 
hell,  he  must  bear  the  responsibility  of  it.  I  am  here 
without  my  choice,  the  creature  of  environment  and 
accident.  If  I  were  to  fail  to  perform  the  specific  part 
assigned  to  me  in  the  economy  of  God's  plan,  I  might 
throw  the  machinery  of  the  whole  universe  out  of  gear. 
So  I  shall  merely  remain  passive  and  allow  whoever  is  at 
the  head  of  this  world  to  manipulate  me  to  the  greatest 
advantage." 

That  is  the  caricature  of  the  truth  of  divine  sover- 
eignty, in  the  baldest,  most  repulsive,  coarsest,  Inger- 
solian  form. 

The  same  spirit  comes  to  the  front  also  with  more 
subtle  speech,  pretending  to  be  most  humble  in  its  sub- 
mission **to  the  Lord's  will,"  and  prating  in  pious  cant 
about  its  longing  for  ''divine  guidance."  "  God  knows 
what  I  ought  to  do,  and  what  I  ought  not  to  do,"  it 
says.      "  I  am  in  the  Lord's  hands  to  be  used  as  he  may 


3IO  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

see  fit.  If  he  wants  me  to  do  this,  he  will  make  me  do 
it.  If  he  wants  me  to  avoid  that,  he  will  make  me  hate 
it.  I  have  just  handed  over  my  entire  personality  to 
him,  and  he  is  responsible.  I  am  merely  a  bit  of  drift- 
wood floating  on  the  great  sea  of  divine  providence, 
subject  to  the  winds  and  tides  which  the  Lord  may  send. 
How  delicious  it  is  not  to  bother  about  steam  and  chart 
and  compass,  but  just  to  float,  float,  float." 

Yes,  and  you  will  wake  up  in  hell  on  that  schedule. 
When  God  saves  us  he  does  not  take  from  us  conscience, 
senses,  mind,  or  Bible.  That  is  an  awful  travesty  on 
religion.  We  have  our  part  to  do,  we  must  "take 
hold,"  and  if  we  fail  to  do  that,  all  the  cant  and  pious 
profession  of  submerging  our  identity  in  the  divine  pur- 
pose will  not  get  us  into  heaven. 

Sometimes  it  is  charged  that  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
through  its  system  of  theology  known  as  "  Calvinism," 
teaches  this  doctrine  of  fatalism.  It  is  said  that  we  be- 
lieve that  God  has  foreordained  one  section  of  the  human 
race  to  heaven,  regardless  of  what  they  may  do  in  the 
matter,  and  another  section  to  hell,  regardless  of  w^hat 
they  may  do.  ' '  If  you  are  going  to  be  saved,  you  will 
be  saved ;  lost,  you  will  be  lost,  and  all  your  efforts  to 
the  contrary  cannot  thwart  the  divine  decree. "  It  is  said 
that  we  believe  so  mightily  in  the  divine  sovereignty  of 
God  that  we  have  left  no  place  for  the  free  agency  of 
man.  Some  one  burrows  away  in  his  study  until  he  un- 
earths the  spectral  figure  of  fatalism,  and  calling  that 
"Calvinism,"  walks  out  into  the  world  and  proclaims 
"Calvinism  the  disgrace  of  theology."  Yes,  it  would 
be  if  the  cap  fit,  but  it  does  not ;  and  I  may  be  allowed 
to  say  in  passing  that  Presbyterians  do  believe  that  the 
human  element  is  vital.  We  do  not  believe  in  the 
decrees  of  God  in  such  a  way  as  to  reduce  to  zero  the 


TAKE  HOLD  OF  GOD.  3II 

freedom  and  responsibility  of  the  human  agent.  The 
statement  of  our  Confessiofi  of  Faith  on  this  subject  ought 
to  be  sufficient  for  all  those  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
examine  it.  There  it  says  :  ' '  God  hath  endued  the  will 
of  man  with  that  natural  liberty,  that  is  neither  forced, 
nor  by  any  absolute  necessity  of  nature  determined  to 
good  or  evil."* 

If  that  is  not  enough  to  settle  any  doubt  on  this  sub- 
ject, a  brief  examination  of  the  practical  evangelism  of 
our  dear  old  church  will  amply  refute  the  statement  that 
her  creed  is  fatalistic.  She  is  in  the  forefront  of  the 
effort  to  carry  the  gospel  to  all  mankind,  believing  that 
when  her  Lord  said:  ''Whosoever  will  may  come,"  he 
meant  it.  The  Presbyterian  Church  has  sent  out  and 
supports  one-fourth  of  the  entire  missionary  force  of  the 
world.  She  leads  the  world  in  the  grace  of  Christian 
giving ;  and  Mr.  Moody  was  speaking  from  past  experi- 
ence when  he  said  that  if  he  wanted  to  raise  $100,000, 
he  expected  to  get  $80,000  of  it  from  Presbyterians. 

We  are  not  fatalists.  There  is  a  human  element  in 
religion,  and  I  may  say  in  the  name  of  my  church,  no 
less  than  in  the  name  of  the  Bible  from  which  the  church 
gets  her  creed,  that  if  you  are  living  as  your  fancy  dic- 
tates, fast  and  loose,  trying  to  shelve  the  responsibility 
for  your  moral  inaccuracies  on  your  Maker,  and  expect- 
ing some  day  to  wake  up  in  glory  and  hear  him  say : 
"Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant!"  you  are  only 
preparing  yourself  for  an  awful  disappointment.  A  man 
who  here  on  earth  crushes  the  poor,  takes  advantage  of 
his  neighbor's  necessities,  lays  hold  of  the  world  and  the 
flesh,  believing  that  after  a  while  he  will  hear  the  Master 
say :    ' '  Forasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the 

♦Chapter  IX.,  Part  i. 


312  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT, 

least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me; 
enter  into  the  joy  of  your  Lord,"  that  man  is  hugging 
an  empty  delusion. 

The  Lord  says,  if  we  want  all  of  this,  we  must  "lay 
hold  of  him."  Isn't  that  a  rich  phrase  with  which  to 
express  our  part  in  the  soul's  salvation.  "  Let  him  take 
hold."  We  are  not  required  to  be  theologians.  It  is 
not  demanded  of  us  that  we  exhaust  the  metaphysical 
subtleties  of  theosophy .  We  are  merely  to  ' '  take  hold. ' ' 
God  has  prepared  salvation.  He  offers  it  as  a  gift.  We 
are  not  required  to  do  God's  part  over  again.  We  are 
not  told  to  die  on  the  cross,  to  make  atonement,  but  to 
ta/ce.  That  is  faith,  and  faith  is  our  part.  Faith  is  the 
open,  empty  hand  that  reaches  up  to  lay  hold  of  what 
God  has  provided.     Faith  is  : 

' '  Just  to  follow,  hour  by  hour,  where  he  leadeth,  . 
Just  to  draw  the  moment's  power  as  it  needeth — 
Just  to  trust  him:   that  is  all." 

If  you  are  thirsty,  the  rivers  of  the  world  might  be 
flowing  at  your  feet,  but  unless  you  dip  a  goblet  and 
drink  you  will  never  slake  your  thirst.  Salvation  is  the 
bounty  of  God's  free  grace,  but  before  it  will  ever  do 
you  any  good,  you  must  take  the  cup  of  salvation  and 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

Nor  is  it  difficult  to  understand  why  this  must  be  the 
case.  You  can  send  your  boy  to  school,  as  some  one 
has  suggested,  and  pay  all  the  expenses  of  his  tuition, 
but  you  cainiot  give  him  an  education  regardless  of  the 
hard  work  which  the  boy  must  do  himself.  A  general 
may  promise  victory  to  his  soldiers,  but  they  do  not 
expect  to  obtain  it  without  fighting,  (rod  may  offer  us 
salvation  as  a  free  gift,  and  does,  but  it  can  never  be- 
come ours  until  we  take  it  and  experience  it.  Salva- 
tion is  not  a  change  of  surroundings,  but  a  new  life. 


TAKE  HOLD  OF  GOD.  313 

Heaven  is  no  more  a  harp  and  crown  and  shining  robe 
and  saintly  face  than  education  is  an  armful  of  books 
and  a  wise  expression  of  countenance.  If  one  wants  to 
be  saved,  let  him  take  hold  of  God.  Have  you  done 
this?  No?  And  yet  you  wonder  that  you  are  not 
saved.  You  expect  God  to  take  vou  by  the  throat  and 
force  you  into  his  kingdom.  You  are  drifting  along, 
living  as  you  please ;  and  the  meanwhile  you  are  blam- 
ing the  Almighty,  and  saying,  "the  Bible  is  false,  the 
church  is  full  of  frauds,  prayer  is  not  answered,  provi- 
dence is  all  topsy-turvy. ' '  Man,  quit  trifling  !  Do  your 
part.  Lay  hold  of  God.  Then,  if  God  fails  you,  you 
will  have  some  just  ground  of  complaint.  And  will 
you  notice  that  it  is  not  enough  for  you  to  stand  away 
off  and  barely  touch  God  with  the  finger-tips  of  a  de- 
crepit faith.  ' '  Let  him  take  hold. ' '  That  means  a  good, 
strong,  honest  clasp.  Your  soul  is  to  cleave  to  God  as 
Eleazer's  hand  did  to  his  sword,*  until  you  cannot  let 
him  go.  Then  your  God  will  become  a  great  reality 
in  all  you  think  and  do. 

II.  This  brings  us  to  the  next  part  of  our  text — the 
divine  element  in  religio7i.  While  there  is  a  human  ele- 
ment in  religion,  it  is  not  all  human.  Indeed,  that  is 
the  smallest  part  of  it.  Let  him  take  hold — of  what? 
Of  education,  and  civilization,  and  art,  and  scientific  re- 
search, and  moral  culture?  It  does  not  say  that,  for  all 
that,  after  all,  would  be  but  the  man's  laying  hold  of 
some  part  of  himself.  Higher  is  the  call.  Richer  is  the 
promise.  "Let  him  take  hold  of  my  strength."  That 
brings  God  upon  the  scene,  and  introduces  the  divine 
element  in  religion. 

There  are  people  who  call  this  superstition.     Just  as 


*  2  Samuel  xxiii. 


314  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

there  are  those  who  believe  altogether  too  much  in  the 
doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty,  or  in  a  monstrous  perver- 
sion of  that  doctrine,  so  there  are  those  vsrho  believe 
entirely  too  much  in  the  doctrine  of  human  agency,  or  in 
a  monstrous  perversion  of  that  doctrine.  The  rationalist 
is  at  the  extreme  swin^  of  the  pendulum  from  the  fatalist. 
He  says :  ' '  Man  is  ^  god  unto  himself.  Religion  is 
only  a  cult.  Worship  is  spiritual  gymnastics.  The 
only  good  prayer  does  is  the  moral  disciplinary  effect  on 
him  who  prays.  What  one  believes  about  the  various 
dogmas  at  issue  in  religion  is  a  matter  of  small  conse- 
quence. Believe  what  3^ou  please,  if  you  are  sincere. 
One  church  is  as  good  as  another.  One  god  is  as  good 
as  another.  One  heaven  is  as  good  as  another.  The 
only  god  and  church  and  heaven  you  will  ever  know 
anything  about  are  within  you.  You  are  the  great 
reality.     All  else  is  pious  fiction." 

Is  that  all  there  is  of  religion  ?  Is  it  simply  a  colossal 
temple  of  unmixed  egoism,  where  God,  church,  heaven, 
priest,  worship,  eternity,  are  all  but  varying  moods  of 
the  one  and  self-same  ' '  his  majesty  myself, ' '  who  makes 
* '  self ' '  the  centre  of  the  universe  and  transmutes  a  lie 
into  the  truth,  by  believing  it  sincerely  ?  If  that  is  all 
there  is  in  worship,  let  us  pitch  all  religion  overboard, 
and  cease  chasing  shadows.  Religion  is  intended  to 
make  man  happier,  stronger,  purer  than  he  is  naturally. 
It  proposes,  not  to  save  him  to  himself,  but  to  save  him 
from  himself;  to  save  him  to  something  larger  and 
grander  than  he  could  ever  otherwise  attain.  If  it  fails 
of  this,  if  there  is  nothing  above  our  heads,  worship  is 
only  a  pious  pantomime ;  and  we  ourselves  are  but 
shadows  playing  solemn  antics  in  holy  moods. 

But  there  is  something  above  our  heads.  We  are  not 
more  certain  of  our  own  existence  than  of  that.      God  is 


TAKE  HOLD  OF  GOD.  315 

there.  God  !  He  is  stronger,  happier,  purer  than  we. 
He  is  all  of  these  in  infinite  perfection,  and  now  his 
word  to  us,  struggling  and  striving  to  be  lifted  from  our 
low  estate  is,  "Take  hold  of  my  strength."  Take  hold 
of  God.  How  life  mounts  up  when  that  is  done.  "  My 
strength!"  God's  strength!  That  is  a  rich  phrase 
with  which  to  set  forth  the  divine,  element  in  religion. 
Strength  means  certainty  in  the  midst  of  doubt,  wisdom 
in  the  hour  of  perplexity,  stability  when  the  strain, 
comes,  riches  in  poverty,  light  in  darkness,  serenity  in 
storm.  Christ  is  God's  strength.  Let  us  take  hold  of 
Christ.  He  will  no  more  fail  us  than  he  did  the  woman 
in  the  gospel  story  who  barely  touched  the  hem  of  his 
garment. 

God  is  a  rock  in  the  midst  of  life's  great  sea,  standing 
whereon  the  raging  flood  cannot  reach  us.  It  howls  and 
sweeps  and  surges  at  our  feet,  but  it  cannot  overthrow 
our  God,  and  we  are  safe.  ' '  Let  him  take  hold  of  my 
strength. ' '  We  do  not  have  to  understand  it  to  measure 
it,  to  exhaust  it,  to  follow  it  in  all  its  works.  We  have 
only  to  take  hold  of  it.  You  can  do  that.  You  cannot 
fathom  God,  but  you  can  take  hold  of  him.  Maybe  you 
cannot  straighten  out  all  of  the  theological  intricacies  to 
your  satisfaction ;  maybe  3^our  daily  shortcomings  are  a 
constant  mortification  to  you ;  maybe  you  cannot  even 
pray  as  you  think  you  ought ;  but  you  can  take  hold  of 
God's  strength.  You  can  accept  Jesus.  This  it  is 
to  which  the  Saviour  would  have  us  devote  life.  Instead 
of  spending  time  on  trifles,  catching  at  bubbles,  fasci- 
nated by  the  glitter  of  empty  nothings,  let  us  drink  in  a 
deep  breath  of  heaven's  air  and  begin  to  live.  Take 
hold  of  God  and  be  saved. 

III.  And  now  we  are  beside  the  last  part  of  our  text. 
First  the   human   element  in  religion,   then  the  divine. 


31  6  SOUTHERN   PRKSBYTKRIAN   PULPIT. 

They  meet,  and  then  the  product — peace.  "Let  him 
take  hold  of  my  strength,  that  he  may  make  peace  with 
me."  A  human  life,  in  its  frailty  and  need,  lays  hold  of 
Crod,  and  God  comes  down  and  dwells  in  the  human 
life,  invests  it  with  the  power  and  majesty  of  his  pres- 
ence, communicates  the  calm  of  heaven  to  the  perturbed 
spirit,  and  there  is  '.'peace."  Brethren,  that  is  religion 
in  its  effect.  "That  he  may  make  peace  with  me." 
God  is  anxious  for  us  to  come  to  that.  The  only  safety 
for  anything  or  anybody  in  the  wide  world  is  to  be  on 
God's  side.  There  is  not  room  enough  for  two  gods  in 
the  universe. 

Peace !  It  is  what  we  long  most  to  possess.  After 
all,  it  is  the  goal  of  life ;  and  beyond  our  business  tasks 
and  social  recreations,  our  toils  and  plans,  beyond  all 
that  we  strive  to  do  here,  we  are  looking  for  peace.  We 
try  to  secure  it  in  different  ways. 

Some  attempt  to  obtain  it  by  conforming  to  a  low 
worldly  standard  and  denying  that  anything  better  is 
possible.  Others  seek  peace  by  surrendering  themselves 
to  the  fullest  gratification  of  all  that  is  sensual  and  mate- 
rial. Still  others  strive  to  attain  unto  peace  by  stifling 
all  anxiety  with  the  stoic's  dogma  that  "  what  cannot  be 
cured  must  be  endured. ' '  But  any  one  who  has  tried  it 
knows  that  all  this  is  beggarly  makeshift.  Surroundings, 
external  comforts,  easy-going  morals  can  no  more  bring 
peace  to  the  soul  than  a  soft  couch  can  bring  health  to  a 
fevered  body. 

A  nation  may  secure  peace,  some  one  has  observed, 
by  two  methods — either  by  conquering,  or  by  being  con- 
quered. If  it  is  willing  to  lay  aside  its  national  self- 
respect,  to  submit  to  insult  and  oppression,  to  submerge 
all  prospects  for  national  greatness  and  influence,  it  may 
have  peace.     There  is  a  sort  of  peace  possible  to  the  in- 


TAKE  HOLD  OF  GOD,  317 

dividual  on  such  degrading  terms.  If  we  are  willing  to 
submit  to  the  incessant  demands  of  the  baser  part  of  us, 
we  may  by-and-by  reach  a  state  of  moral  callousness, 
where  conscience  will  be  silenced,  and  we  shall  have 
peace.  Who  wants  such  peace?  That  is  not  what  God 
offers.  The  Christian  gets  his  peace,  not  by  being  con- 
quered, but  by  conquering.  He  gets  hold  of  omnipo- 
tence, and  in  the  might  of  that  defeats  his  adversaries 
and  achieves  peace.  That  is  peace  worth  having.  God 
lifts  us  above  expediency.  He  dissipates  anxiety  about 
to-morrow,  not  by  making  to-morrow  any  the  less  a 
stern  day,  but  by  giving  us  strength  to  fight  all  of  its 
battles  successfully. 

God's  promises  may  not  mature  in  sixty  days,  but 
they  mature,  and  promptly  at  the  hour  of  need  they  may 
be  realized  upon  to  their  full  face  value,  with  compounded 
interest.  "Wait  on  the  Lord;  be  of  good  courage,  and 
he  shall  strengthen  thine  heart:  wait,  I  say,  on  the 
Lord."* 

"God  holds  the  key  of  all  unknown, 
And  I  am  glad ; 

If  other  hands  should  hold  the  key, 

Or  if  he  trusted  it  to  me, 
I  might  be  sad." 

Let  us  understand  that  to  meet  life  successfully  it  is 
not  necessary  to  understand  all  that  is  before  us.  Away 
with  this  diet  of  thin  gruel  on  the  table  of  those  whose 
creed  is  a  naked  interrogation  point.  The  life  of  faith  is 
ever  the  strongest  life.  Believe  in  God  and  do  your 
best  and  there  is  always  certain  victory. 

"The  best  men,  doing  their  best. 
Know,  peradventure,  least  of  what  they  do. 
Men  usefuUest  in  the  world  are  simply  used." 

*  Psalm  xxvii.  14. 


3l8  SOUTHKRN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

God  is  responsible,  to  whoever  trusts  him,  for  all  that 
life  needs  to  make  it  great  and  good.  How  lines  of  care 
fade  out  and  disappear  for  him  who  realizes  that !  *  *  Let 
me  take  hold ' '  — that  is  our  part.  ' '  Of  God' s  strength  ' '  — 
that  is  God's  part;  and  the  result  is  "peace." 

You  say  all  of  this  does  well  enough  to  preach  about. 
It  is  a  beautiful  theory,  but  it  breaks  down  in  practice. 
Let  us  see.  God  has  given  us  one  perfect  illustration  of 
the  text — Jesus  Christ.  In  his  earthly  career  the  human 
and  divine  elements  of  religion  met.  In  Christ  human 
need  took  hold  of  divine  strength,  and  the  product  was 
a  life  of  absolutely  undisturbed  and  unquenchable  peace. 
Christ  would  reproduce  his  life  in  us.  He  would  have 
us  fight  our  battles  as  he  fought  his,  and  achieve  the 
same  glorious  victory,  for  the  same  seraphic  end.  "  My 
peace  I  give  unto  you."  That  is  what  Jesus  has  be- 
queathed to  his  followers  from  his  cross.  Peace !  Let 
us  take  hold  of  God  with  the  clasp  of  a  fresh  and  living 
faith,  and  receiving  into  our  souls  something  of  the  in- 
effable calm  which  always  reigns  wherever  God  is,  let  us 
enjoy  Christ's  blessed  bequest  of  peace. 


.l.'#>^'.J.> 


TO  M^:  TO  LIVE  IS  CHRIST 

;.   HOWERTON 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  Norj^ 


T 


HESK  are  the  words  of  an  earnest  man  anc; 

Christian.    _  Kve^  before  his  con versior:    " 

m^Tt  f»f  great  earnestness,  and  of  sv 

iirpose.      He  was  a 

!£e  excelled  all  otlie 

rtainment«  in  the  T*: 


ened  to 

among  its  mobi 

mad  was  he  agai?.-. 

unto  strange  cities 

there   came   to   him    tii  heaveu 

changed  his  whole   life.       ^  wj    <^^.-.    v^^tich  ^'^^' 

been  striving  to  check  the  current  of  Chribi 

turned  and  flowed  with  it  in  increased  volume  mvx  foro 

Paul  now  became  as  earnest  a  Christian  o'  ^'     *        •  ■''' 

been   a  Pharisee.      All  that  had  beeri 

now  counted  loss  that  he  might  win  ' 

himself  to  the  service  of  Christ  unt.; 

sorbing  purpose  of  his  life.     He  now  srdd. 

thing  I  do. " 

This   epistle    ^,...     w...  ,.    ......    ...     >. 

His  labors  and  sufferings  for  his  Master' 


.  '*.  \  'k  •«■ 


320  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

of  communion  with  him  had  ripened  his  character  to 
that  degree  of  consecration  which  marks  this  whole 
epistle.  He  was  writing  from  prison  at  Rome.  The 
news  of  his  arrest  must  have  spread  consternation 
throughout  Christendom.  Especially  must  it  have 
brought  sorrow  and  dismay  to  this  loving  and  beloved 
people.  He  wishes  to  cheer  and  encourage  them.  "I 
would  that  ye  should  understand,  brethren,  that  the 
things  which  happened  unto  me,  so  far  from  proving  to 
be  a  calamity  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  have  turned  out 
rather  unto  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel.  For  many  of 
the  brethren  in  the  Lord,  waxing  confident  by  my  bonds, 
are  much  more  bold  to  speak  the  word  without  fear.  It 
is  true,  some  preach  Christ  from  wrong  motives,  sup- 
posing to  add  affliction  to  my  bonds.  But  whether  in 
pretence  or  truth,  Christ  is  preached,  and  therein  I  do 
rejoice  and  will  continue  to  rejoice.  It  is  my  earnest 
expectation  and  my  hope,  that  as  always  heretofore,  so 
now  also,  Christ  shall  be  magnified  in  my  body,  whether 
it  be  by  life  or  by  death.  And  it  matters  not  to  me 
which,  for  to  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain." 

' '  To  me  to  live  is  Christ. ' '  Notice  the  singular  word- 
ing of  the  text.  It  is  a  pregnant  construction.  Paul 
states  an  equation,  of  which  "to  live"  is  the  first  mem- 
ber, and  ' '  Christ ' '  is  the  second.  He  affirms  some  sort 
of  an  identity  between  Christ  and  the  Christian's  life. 
What  does  he  mean  ? 

There  are  two  very  common  senses  in  which  we  use 
the  word  "life."  The  first  is  in  the  sense  of  the  vital 
principle,  that  mysterious  force  which  animates  dead 
matter,  upon  whose  presence  depends  nourishment  and 
growth.  We  use  the  word  in  this  sense  when  we  say, 
"Life  is  extinct."  The  second  is  in  the  sense  of  the 
sum  of  the  activities  of  body  and  soul,  the  outworking 


TO  ME  TO  LIVE  IS  CHRIST.  32I 

of  the  inward  principle.  We  use  it  in  this  sense  when 
we  say  of  a  man  that  he  Hved  a  useful  life,  or  when  we 
say,  **  Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest." 

We  use  the  word  in  both  these  senses  when  we  refer 
to  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  natural  life.  When  we 
speak  of  the  spiritual  life  we  may  mean  either  its  vital 
principle  or  the  outworking  of  that  principle  in  spiritual 
thoughts,  desires,  words  and  deeds.  Paul  affirms  an 
identity  between  Christ  and  the  Christian's  life  in  both 
these  senses.  He  affirms  it  in  the  first  sense  in  Galatians 
ii.  20,  when  he  says,  "I  am  crucified  with  Christ,  never- 
theless I  live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me;  and 
the  life  that  I  now  live,  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of 
God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me."  That 
is,  Christ  is  the  author  and  sustainer  of  that  inward 
principle  of  the  new  life. 

But  I  think  that  in  our  text  he  is  using  it  in  the 
second  sense.  He  refers  to  the  outward  development  of 
the  life  that  is  within;  the  sum  of  its  thoughts,  pur- 
poses, activities,  and  sufferings;  to  his  life  as  a  whole. 
As  Christ  is  the  source  of  the  inward  spiritual  life,  so 
he  is  the  end  and  object  of  its  outward  development. 
As  the  earth  derives  her  life  from  the  light  and  heat  of 
the  sun,  develops  that  life  into  countless  forms  of  use 
and  beauty,  then,  circling  within  the  orbit  of  his  attrac- 
tion, exhibits  the  infinite  variety  of  her  life,  thus  re- 
turning that  which  he  gave ;  so  the  Christian  derives  his 
inner  spiritual  life  from  Christ,  develops  it  into  spiritual 
graces  and  activities,  then,  revolving  about  him  as  the 
great  centre  of  attraction,  consecrates  to  him  the  life 
which  he  has  given. 

* '  Christ  liveth  in  me — to  me  to  live  is  Christ ! ' '  What 
a  philosophy  of  life  we  have  in  these  two  sentences ! 
What  a  sublime  explanation  of  its  source  and  end  !     And 

21 


322  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

to  think  that  it  came  from  a  prisoner,  awaiting  a  felon's 
death  !  Contrast  it  with  the  sad  pessimism  of  the  royal 
skeptic:  "The  living  know  that  they  shall  die,  but  the 
dead  know  not  anything. ' ' 

I  shrink  from  trying  to  analyze  this  text,  lest  I  should 
seem  to  mar  its  force  and  beauty.  But  for  the  sake  of 
confining  our  attention  to  it  for  a  little  while,  let  us  look 
at  it  in  this  way :  i .  Christ  gives  to  life  its  purpose — 
his  glory  ;  2 .  Christ  gives  to  life  its  motive — his  love ; 
3.  Christ  gives  to  life  its  character — nobility ;  4.  Christ 
gives  to  life  its  issue — success. 

I.  Christ  gives  to  life  its  purpose — his  glory.  Life 
must  have  an  end  as  well  as  an  origin,  a  purpose  as  well 
as  a  cause.  We  are  just  as  much  compelled  to  believe 
that  everything  has  a  final  cause  as  that  it  has  an 
efficient  cause.  The  one  belief  is  just  as  intuitive  as 
the  other.  To  use  the  old  illustration,  if  we  saw  a 
watch  for  the  first  time,  we  should  not  only  believe  that 
somebody  made  it,  but  that  he  made  it  for  some  purpose. 
If  our  first  question  were,  Who  made  it?  Our  next 
would  be,  For  what  purpose  did  he  make  it?  The 
second  question  is  just  as  necessary  as  the  first,  and  the 
mind  will  not  rest  until  both  are  answered.  The  effort 
to  find  the  answer  to  these  two  questions  gives  rise  to 
all  philosophy  and  science.  This  question  rises  to  su- 
preme importance  when  it  concerns  the  human  life. 
The  question,  How  did  we  come  into  being?  is  of  no 
more  importance  than  the  question.  For  what  do  we 
live  ?  And  as  the  efficient  caUvSe,  so  must  the  final  cause 
of  life  be  adequate  to  account  for  it.  Life  as  a  whole 
must  have  some  sufficient  purpose.  It  is  not  enough  to 
find  an  object  for  the  intellect,  another  for  the  faculty  of 
taste,  another  for  the  affections.  Man's  life  is  not  a 
mere  sum  of  so  many  days,  months,  and  years  ;  it  is  not 


TO  ME  TO  LIVE  IS  CHRIST.  323 

a  mere  bundle  of  thoughts,  feelings,  words,  and  actions. 
There  must  be  unity  in  the  purpose  of  life.  This  unity 
of  purpose  is  necessary  to  the  success  of  life  as  a  whole. 
There  must  be  some  one  object  upon  which  all  man's 
faculties  may  be  centered,  and  which  is  worthy  of  their 
highest  and  noblest  exercise.  In  any  part  of  life  single- 
ness of  purpose  and  concentration  of  effort  are  necessary 
to  success.  Some  years  ago  I  was  passing  down  a  river 
valley.  One  scene  I  remember,  where  the  river  spreads 
its  whole  volume  of  water  into  a  broad  and  beautiful 
lake,  surrounded  by  mountain  walls.  Beautiful,  but 
useless.  Just  beside  the  river  ran  a  canal,  narrow,  but 
deep.  That  canal  perhaps  did  not  contain  one- tenth  the 
volume  of  water  which  the  river  did,  but  it  had  once 
carried  the  commerce  of  a  nation.  So,  if  a  man  would  at- 
tain success  among  the  world's  workers,  he  must  choose 
his  calling,  and  concentrate  his  powers  upon  it.  Now, 
if  this  be  true  of  the  component  parts  of  life,  how  much 
more  of  life  itself?  In  an  orchestra,  not  only  must  every 
instrument  be  in  tune  with  itself,  but  every  one  must  be 
attuned  to  all  the  others.  So  there  must  be  some  com- 
mon chord  to  which  all  the  faculties  of  the  soul  may  be 
attuned,  in  order  to  make  of  life  a  perfect  harmony.  A 
man  may  seem  to  have  been  a  success  in  his  business  or 
profession,  to  have  been  happy  in  his  affections,  to  have 
had  every  taste  gratified,  and  yet  his  life  as  a  whole  may 
have  been  one  stupendous  failure.  When  death  comes, 
he  will  be  like  a  tree  whose  fruit  has  been  killed  by  an 
untimely  frost,  whose  leaves  have  been  scattered  by  the 
winds,  and  whose  trunk,  worm-eaten  and  deca-^ed,  has 
returned  to  the  elements  from  whence  it  came. 

Such  a  purpose  was  given  man  in  his  first  creation — 
the  glory  of  God.  This  alone  is  an  end  unto  itself;  this 
alone  was  worthy  of  man's  life ;   this  alone  could  call  all 


324  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

man's  faculties  into  their  highest  and  noblest  exercise. 
But  when  man  fell  he  prostituted  his  powers  to  baser 
ends.  He  lost  both  the  power  and  the  will  to  live  for 
God's  glory.  In  redeeming  man  Christ  has  restored  to 
him  this  same  purpose  in  a  new  form.  It  is  now  the 
glory  of  God  in  and  through  Christ.  Under  the  gospel 
the  glory  of  God  as  embodied  in  Christ,  in  whom 
dw^elleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  is  man's 
chief  end.  Through  him  all  approach  to  God  must  be 
made,  through  him  all  work  for  God's  glory  must  be 
done.  * '  Who  gave  himself  for  us  that  he  might  redeem 
us  from  all  iniquity,  and  purify  unto  himself  a  peculiar 
people,  zealous  of  good  works."  "Whether  we  live  or 
whether  we  die,  we  are  the  Lord's  ;  for  to  this  end  Christ 
both  died  and  revived  and  rose  again  that  he  might  be 
Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  the  living. ' ' 

All  that  is  worthy  of  human  effort  is  embraced  under 
this  purpose.  To  seek  the  glory  of  Christ  is  to  seek  the 
highest  development  of  one's  own  soul,  and  the  highest 
good  of  one's  fellow-men.  It  includes  all  that  humani- 
tarianism  offers  as  the  end  of  human  effort,  and  infinitely 
more.  Christ  is  the  chord  to  which  all  the  faculties  of 
the  soul  must  be  attuned  to  make  of  human  life  a  har- 
mony which  shall  resound  throughout  eternity  to  the 
glory  of  God. 

II.  Christ  gives  to  life  its  motive — his  love.  To  make 
a  success  of  life  as  a  w^hole  there  must  not  only  be  a 
purpose  worthy  of  all  the  powers  of  a  human  soul,  but  a 
motive  which  will  arouse  them  to  their  highest  energy. 
Motive  is  to  the  soul  what  steam  is  to  an  engine..  With- 
out steam  the  most  perfect  machinery  is  useless  ;  without 
a  life-motive  the  most  highly-gifted  soul  is  worse  than 
useless. 

I  once  saw  a  painting  in  some  art  gallery  of  a  beauti- 


TO  ME  TO  LIVE  IS  CHRIST.  325 

fill  vessel,  under  full  sail,  becalmed  upon  a  glassy  ocean. 
To  me  there  was  a  sadness  in  the  picture  which  was 
only  enhanced  by  its  beauty.  I  could  not  but  think 
how  many  souls  are  like  that  vessel,  endowed  with  the 
highest  powers  of  mind  and  heart,  yet  becalmed  upon 
the  ocean  of  life — without  a  life-motive  ! 

Said  George  Eliot,  **What  makes  life  dreary  is  the 
want  of  motive."  How  many  wasted  lives  testify  to 
the  truth  of  that  saying  !  "  Is  life  worth  living  ? ' '  The 
answer  depends  upon  the  answer  to  the  questions,  *  *  Has 
life  an  end  ?  has  life  a  motive  ? ' '  There  is  a  great  deal 
of  pessimism  in  the  world  to-day  because  men  cannot 
answer  these  question  for  themselves,  and  will  not  ac- 
cept God's  answer. 

"Full  many  a  gem  of  purest  ray  serene, 

The  dark  unf athomed  caves  of  ocean  bear ; 
Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air, ' 

is  Gray's  oft-quoted  saying.  So,  hidden  away  in  many 
a  human  soul  precious  gifts  lie  dormant,  because  no  mo- 
tive arouses  them  to  exercise.  How  many  Cincinnati 
or  Putnams  may  be  plowing  in  their  fields  to-day ;  how 
many  Jacksons  many  be  teaching  in  their  little  school- 
rooms, because  their  country's  voice  does  not  call  them 
to  arms  !  How  many  statesmen  whose  names  might  be 
written  in  their  country's  history  are  pursuing  quiet 
avocations,  leaving  their  places  to  be  filled  by  dema- 
gogues, because  patriotism  does  not  call  them  to  their 
country's  sei;vice !  Oh !  how  many  talents  are  rusting 
in  their  napkins,  because  the  love  of  Christ  has  not 
quickened  the  souls  who  possess  them  !  How  many  are 
there  in  this  congregation  who  are  living  selfish  lives, 
prostituting  precious  gifts  to  the  pursuit  of  filthy  lucre 
or  idle  pleasure,  because  the  love  of  Christ  has  no  place 


326  southp:rn  Presbyterian  pulpit. 

in  your  hearts  ?  How  many  young  men  are  here  to-day 
who  might  be  preaching  the  gospel  and  saving  the  lost, 
because  the  love  of  Christ  does  not  constrain  you  ?  How 
many  missionaries  are  here  to-day  who  have  not  heard 
the  call  of  duty,  because  the  love  of  Christ  has  not 
quickened  your  ears  ? 

It  was  the  love  of  Christ  that  made  Paul  what  he  was 
and  enabled  him  to  do  the  work  he  did.  Without  it  his 
name  would  have  been  buried  to-day  in  the  annals  of 
Jewish  rabbis. 

The  love  of  Christ  is  the  only  motive  that  can  arouse 
all  the  powers  of  a  soul  into  their  highest  and  noblest 
exercise.  And  that  is  the  strongest  motive  in  the  world 
to-day.  It  is  doing  more  for  the  human  race  than  all 
other  motives  combined.  Make  all  the  allowances  you 
please  for  apathy  of  Christians  and  coldness  in  the 
church,  the  love  of  Christ  still  inspires  the  noblest  sacri- 
fices and  the  most  arduous  labors.  The  love  of  Christ 
is  the  true  altruism.  And  this  is  the  motive  which  Paul 
commends  to  you  when  he  says,  "To  me  to  live  is 
Christ." 

III.  Christ  gives  to  life  its  character — nobility.  The 
life  whose  purpose  is  the  glory  of  Christ,  whose  motive 
is  the  love  of  Christ,  however  narrow  its  sphere,  how- 
ever humble  its  condition,  is  a  noble  life. 

Was  not  Paul's  a  noble  life?  We  can  all  see  it  now, 
but  in  his  day  he  was  despised  both  by  Jew  and  Gentile. 
The  noblest  lives  in  the  world's  history  have  been  those 
of  followers  of  Jesus,  of  men  whose  motto  has  been  :  "  To 
me  to  live  is  Christ. ' '  Some  of  you  may  say  :  ' '  But  we 
cannot  all  live  such  lives.  If  I  could  preach  like  Paul ; 
if  I  could  win  nations  to  Christ ;  if  I  could  write  books 
which  would  overthrow  error,  or  edify  and  comfort  God's 
people  ;  if  I  could  be  a  great  reformer  like  Luther,  or  a 


TO  ME  TO  LIVE  IS  CHRIST.  327 

great  missionary  ;  if  I  could  write  hymns  which  should 
voice  the  devotions  of  God's  people,  then  I  might  feel 
that  a  noble  life  was  for  me.  But  I  can  do  none  of  these 
things.  I  have  neither  the  talents  nor  the  opportuni- 
ties." Who  has  not  felt  the  wish  that  his  talents  were 
increased  and  his  sphere  of  influence  widened,  that  his 
name  might  be  written  in  the  catalogue  of  noble  lives? 
But,  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  a  Paul,  a  Luther,  a  Bunyan, 
a  Whitefield,  a  Carey  or  a  Moffat,  a  Havergal  or  a  Pren- 
tiss, to  live  a  noble  life.  It  needs  only  that  the  life- 
purpose  be  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  that  the  life- motive 
be  the  love  of  Christ.  Most  of  us  must  live  what  men 
would  call  commonplace  lives.  But  however  common- 
place, however  humble,  it  is  a  noble  life  if  Christ  be  its 
centre. 

Paul's  was  a  noble  life,  but  was  not  Hannah's  life 
noble,  too  ?  That  mother  who  first  consecrated  her  son 
to  the  service  of  God,  then  brought  to  the  temple  from 
year  to  year  the  garments  which  her  loving  fingers  had 
fashioned  for  him  in  quiet  obscurity — did  she  not  live  a 
noble  life  ?  I  know  of  a  mother  who,  left  early  a  widow 
with  little  children,  had  worked  for  years  to  support  and 
educate  them,  looking  forward  to  the  time  when  her  first- 
born son  should  take  her  burden  from  her  shoulders. 
But  just  when  he  was  emerging  from  boyhood  he  heard 
the  call  of  God's  Spirit  to  preach  the  gospel.  Sore  as 
the  trial  was,  she  gave  him  up  to  the  service  of  her 
Master.  Was  not  hers  a  noble  life?  And  there  are 
many  such  lives  not  recorded  in  man's  history.  Maiy  is 
only  one  of  many  thousands  of  women  who  have  anointed 
their  Saviour  with  the  costly  fragrance  of  their  lives,  yet 
she  is  one  of  very  few  whose  names  are  spoken  wherever 
the  gospel  is  preached.  All  have  heard  of  Augustine 
and  Chrysostom,   yet  how  many  have  never  heard  of 


328  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

Monica  and  Anthusa,  the  Christian  mothers  to  whom 
the  church  owes  these  men.  The  world  resounds  with 
Luther's  fame,  but  how  few  outside  of  the  students  of 
church  history  have  heard  of  John  Staupitz,  who  led  him 
to  Christ.  And  there  are  thousands  of  lives  just  as 
noble  which  have  not  received  even  bare  mention  in 
church  history.  But  when  we  come  to  study  the  histor>- 
of  the  church  which  the  recording  angel  is  now  writing 
we  shall  find  their  names  in  letters  of  gold. 

In  a  life  consecrated  to  Christ,  the  needle,  the  plow, 
the  saw,  the  counter,  the  desk,  are  instruments  in  doing 
God's  work.  The  humblest  Christian  life  is  nobler  than 
that  of  warriors,  kings,  orators,  and  statesmen,  whose 
names  are  immortalized  in  man's  imperfect  histories. 

IV.  Christ  gives  to  life  its  issue — success.  I  have 
said  that  in  order  to  the  success  of  life  as  a  whole  there 
is  need  of  unity  of  design.  But  we  cannot  plan  our  lives 
with  any  certainty  for  a  single  day,  how  much  less  for 
the  months  and  the  years  to  come !  Still  less  can  w^e 
make  our  lives  work  together  with  those  of  others.  We 
work  often  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  design  of  the  work 
we  are  doing.  But  there  is  over  all  a  Master-mind, 
overseeing,  directing  all  in  accordance  with  a  foreordained 
plan  of  infinite  wisdom.  I  was  once  invited  to  ride  with 
an  engineer  along  the  line  of  a  railroad  in  process  of  con- 
struction. In  one  place  I  saw  some  digging  into  a  hill, 
others  shovelling  the  earth  into  carts,  others  hauling  it 
away  and  dumping  it  into  a  valley.  Each  was  doing  his 
own  work  without  paying  any  attention  to  others.  A 
mile  or  so  further  on  I  saw  another  gang  of  workmen 
without  any  apparent  connection  with  the  first.  I  saw 
some  of  these  with  drills  in  their  hands  patiently  striking 
away  at  exactly  the  same  spot  in  the  rock  for  hours.  I 
saw  others  putting  dynamite  into  the  holes  thus  drilled. 


TO  ME  TO  LIVE  IS  CHRIST.  329 

I  saw  others  sharpening  instruments,  tempering  drills, 
and  forging  tools.  As  we  drove  along  the  engineer 
showed  me  a  line  of  stakes  leading  from  one  gang  to 
another.  The  whole  road  had  been  surveyed.  I  saw 
then  the  connection  between  the  different  squads  of 
workmen,  and  their  different  tasks.  All  were  working 
together,  each  in  his  own  place  and  task,  under  the 
superintendence  of  the  engineer.  Unity  of  plan  per- 
vaded the  whole,  so  that  not  a  blow  of  the  pick  or  stroke 
of  the  drill  was  wasted. 

So  Christ,  the  great  Engineer,  overlooks  and  directs  the 
work  of  all  those  in  his  employ,  so  that  it  effects  his 
design.  He  thus  unifies  the  life  of  the  individual  Chris- 
tian, and  of  the  whole  church  in  all  ages.  It  was  by  his 
direction  that  Paul  became  a  missionary  to  the  Gentiles, 
instead  of  preaching  to  the  Jews  as  he  thought  he  ought 
to  do.  It  was  by  his  call  that  Paul  went  to  Europe.  Even 
what  seem  to  us  to  be  disasters  are  parts  of  his  plan, 
and  work  out  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose.  Thus 
Paul's  arrest,  voyage,  and  imprisonment  at  Rome,  which 
seemed  to  be  a  great  calamity,  was  ordered  by  Christ, 
and  turned  out  rather  for  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel. 

Somewhere  I  have  read  a  story  of  a  monk  who,  in  the 
century  before  the  Reformation,  had  discovered  the  truth 
by  reading  the  Bible.  He  was  shut  up  for  the  rest  of 
his  life  in  a  dungeon.  There  he  contrived  to  write  his 
views,  and  concealed  them  in  the  walls  of  his  dungeon. 
Long  after  his  death  the  manuscript  was  discovered, 
published,  and  became  a  means  of  advancing  the  Re- 
formation. Even  our  failures  are  overruled  for  good. 
Indeed,  in  the  Christian  life  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
failure.  We  may  not  live  to  see  it,  but  Christ  will  give 
it  success.  Even  death,  that  black  shadow  of  disaster, 
which  lies  across  the  path  of  every  natural  life,  is  to  the 


330  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

Christian  the  entering  into  the  reward  of  his  labors,  the 
crown  of  success;  for  he  can  not  only  say,  "To  me  to 
live  is  Christ,"  but  "to  die  is  gain." 

Now,  dear  friends,  will  you  not  make  this,  "  To  me 
to  live  is  Christ,"  the  motto  of  your  life?  Oh  !  what  a 
different  world  this  would  be,  if  it  were  only  tried  by 
men  and  women  in  every  walk  of  life !  If  only  the 
preacher,  whenever  he  stands  in  his  pulpit  or  visits  the 
homes  of  his  people,  would  forget  himself,  and  remem- 
ber, ' '  To  me  to  live  is  Christ ' '  !  Would  that  every 
physician,  as  he  goes  about  with  his  ministry  of  heal- 
ing ;  every  lawyer,  as  he  pleads  in  the  courts  of  justice ; 
every  politician,  as  he  accepts  the  office  entrusted  to  him 
by  his  countrymen ;  every  business-man,  every  laborer, 
made  this  the  rule  of  conduct,  "To  me  to  live  is 
Christ ' '  !  Oh !  that  every  wife  and  mother  would 
make  this  the  spirit  of  the  home,  "To  me  to  live 
is  Christ"  !  Oh  !  that  every  woman  to  whom  beauty, 
or  w^ealth,  or  position,  or  talent,  has  given  a  command- 
ing position  in  society,  would  consecrate  that  influence 
to  Christ !     What  a  different  world  it  would  be  ! 

Young  men  !  you  who  stand  upon  the  threshold  of 
life,  who  are  seeking  to  determine  aright  your  choice  of 
a  profession,  who  are  making  your  plans  for  the  future, 
will  you  not,  before  all  these,  make  the  choice  of  a  life- 
purpose  and  a  life-motive?  Will  you  not  determine, 
whatever  your  choice  of  a  life-calling  may  be,  that  this 
shall  be  its  aim  and  motive,  "To  me  to  live  is  Christ"  ! 
Then  let  other  choices  be  what  they  may,  your  life  will 
be  a  noble  life,  a  successful  life.  Will  you  not  all  join 
me  in  the  petition  : 

"Father,  I  lift  my  prayer  to  thee, 
To  grant  me  this,  my  earnest  plea, 
The  motto  of  my  life  may  be, 
'To  one  to  live  is  Christ.' 


TO  ME  TO  LIVE  IS  CHRIST.  33I 

'Thy  strengthening  grace,  O,  Lord,  I  pray- 
That  I,  with  each  returning  day. 
From  loving  heart  may  truly  say, 
'To  me  to  live  is  Christ.' 

'My  life,  O,  Christ,  thou  gavest  me, 
A  life  from  fear  of  death  set  free. 
That  life  I  consecrate  to  thee, 
'To  me  to  live  is  Christ.' 

'  One  purpose  o'er  my  powers  shall  reign 
One  motive  all  my  heart  constrain, 
Through  all  my  life  run  this  refrain, 
'To  me  to  live  is  Christ.' 

'Thy  glory  be  my  life's  sole  end, 
To  that  let  all  my  powers  tend. 
To  that  all  my  ambitions  bend, 
'To  me  to  live  is  Christ.' 

'The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  me, 
That  love  my  one  incentive  be 
Inflame  my  answering  love  to  thee, 
'To  me  to  live  is  Christ.' 

'  To  loftier  aim  could  soul  aspire  ? 
What  nobler  life  could  heart  desire, 
What  motive  such  devotion  fire? 
'  To  me  to  live  is  Christ. ' 

'Then  when  life's  labors  all  are  o'er. 
Its  cares  and  sorrows  are  no  more. 
And  death  stands  knocking  at  the  door 
' In  Christ  to  die  is  gain.'" 


THE    VALLEY    OF    ACHOR. 

BY  REV.   G.   L.   PETRIE,   D.   D., 
Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Charlottesville,    Va. 


"I  will  give  her  the  valley  of  Achor  for  a  door  of  hope." — 
HosKA  ii.  15. 

TO  appreciate  this  prophetic  language  we  must,  of 
course,  know  something  of  the  valley  of  Achor. 
While  it  is  a  name  not  much  used  now,  it  marked 
a  spot  once  well  known  to  the  Israelite  in  the  geography 
of  his  land.  Its  precise  location  cannot  now  be  traced. 
It  was  near  Jericho;  it  was  closely  connected  with 
Gilgal ;  it  was  in  the  deep  gorge  of  the  Jordan,  nestling 
somewhere  amidst  the  spurs  of  the  mountains  that 
formed  the  central  feature  of  the  promised  land.  The 
name  occurs  only  three  times  in  the  Bible.  It  has  the 
eminence  of  importance,  if  not  of  frequent  mention.  A 
glance  at  its  brief  record  may  make  it  to  us  a  door  of 
hope,  as  God,  through  Hosea,  said  he  would  make  it  to 
Israel  in  the  olden  day. 

I.  The  Valley  of  Entrance. 
Israel's  first  camp  across  the  Jordan  was  in  the  valley 
of  Achor.  It  marked  a  great  transition  of  the  people. 
For  forty  years  they  had  been  pilgrims  on  the  march 
or  in  the  camp.  They  had  camped  on  other  people's 
ground,  and  marched  across  alien  lands.  They  had 
never  been  at  home.  Their  whole  history  is  summed  up 
in  two  short  chapters — slaves  in  Egypt,  pilgrims  in  the 
wilderness.     But  in  the  valley  of  Achor  they  had  a  new 

33'2 


ol.  of 
Achor. 
::a:ked 
■nik; 

-A 
.  with 
r<t!ing 

--  :'nat 


J.  .jjt  oaich 


A  'i-  ^ 


THE  VALLEY  OF  ACHOR.  333 

experience — at  home.  Always  it  had  been :  to  the  land 
of  which  the  Lord  had  said,  * '  I  will  give  it  you. ' '  Now, 
this  is  the  land.  Here  pilgrimage  ceased,  and  perma- 
nent residence  began ;  here  was  the  throwing  off  of  the 
old  and  the  putting  on  of  the  new. 

Some  sudden  changes  took  place  in  Achor's  vale. 
Here  was  a  camp  in  which  Moses  was  sadly  missed. 
The  great  leader  had  finished  his  work  and  gone  to  his 
reward.  Joshua  had  now  begun  to  be  magnified  in  the 
sight  of  Israel.  In  the  valley  of  Achor  a  new  order  of 
things  began. 

See !  yonder  cloudy  pillar,  guide  of  the  host  for  forty 
years,  rolls  up  and  is  borne  away  by  unseen  hands.  The 
pillar,  which  was  a  cloud  by  day  and  a  fire  by  night,  is 
beheld  no  more.  Its  work  accomplished,  it  retires  from 
the  scene.  Israel  has  reached  the  land  long  sought, 
and  there  is  no  more  need  of  guidance  on  the  way. 
Another  change.  The  morning  comes.  As  the  Israelite 
looks  out  from  his  tent  door  he  sees  no  manna  on  the 
ground.  The  manna  ceased,  the  bread  from  heaven  by 
which  a  travelling  host  had  been  so  long  fed.  A  better 
food  was  now  in  reach,  the  old  corn  of  the  land  and 
Canaan's  luscious  fruits.  On  these,  with  great  delight, 
they  fed.     How  great  a  change  a  day  had  made  ! 

That  change  had  been  accomplished  by  the  shortest 
march  Israel  had  ever  made.  Many  a  long  day's  march 
Israel  had  made.  Beginning  in  the  morning  fresh,  in 
the  evening  worn  and  weary  they  had  pitched  their 
tents,  yet  seemed  to  accomplish  naught.  No  progress, 
no  gain,  no  betterment  of  their  estate ;  or,  if  a  change, 
only  seeming  worse  for  their  long  march.  This  last 
march,  which  brought  them  to  Achor's  vale,  the  shortest, 
yet  accomplished  most.  At  night  they  camp  in  sight  of 
yonder  eastern  bank  of  Jordan,  which  in  the  morning 


334  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

they  had  left ;  in  sight  of  yonder  heights  of  Moab,  where 
the  tented  host  so  recently  had  dwelt.  Now  let  the 
silver  trumpet  sound  long  and  clear.  Let  its  music  ring. 
Its  prolonged  note  has  reached  the  plain  where  the  morn- 
ing camp  had  been,  and  wakes  the  silence  of  its  solitude. 
Israel's  shortest  march  of  all  in  those  forty  years  !  How 
great  a  change  is  by  it  wrought !  Take  down  the  old 
signs  ;  put  up  the  new  ;  Israel  at  home. 

Why  all  this?  Why  can  a  little  movement  here  and 
now  do  more  than  great  movements  elsewhere  and  at 
other  times?  That  short  journey  led  Israel  across  a 
great  dividing  line.  That  made  the  difference.  Some 
places  that  are  very  far  apart  are  very  near — no  line  be- 
tween them ;  no  real  difference,  though  there  be  a  stretch 
of  miles  on  miles.  Some  places  are  very  near,  yet  very 
far  apart.  A  line  divides  them.  It  makes  a  very  great 
difference  on  which  side  of  the  line  we  stand.  By  long 
journeys  we  may  only  compass  the  mountain,  or  meas- 
ure vast  stretches  of  dreary  desert  sands  or  pathless 
wilds,  and'  after  all  be  no  better  off,  and  at  last  die 
wretched  pilgrims.  All  the  trouble  goes  for  naught.  A 
step  across  the  line  may  put  us  at  home,  may  bring  us 
into  the  valley  of  Achor.  To  us  it  becomes  a  door  of 
hope,  a  gateway  to  the  land. 

Come  over  into  the  valley  of  entrance  to-day.  Some 
of  you  have  journeyed  long,  but  have  not  reached  the 
Rest.  You  are  clinging  to  the  accompaniments  of  pil- 
grimage— cloud  and  manna,  things  that  have  brought 
you  to  the  border  of  the  real  blessing.  You  look  over 
into  the  valley  of  entrance,  but  cross  not  its  dividing  line. 
Make  this  shortest  march  of  all.  In  sight  of  the  pro- 
mised blessing,  cross  over  and  possess  it.  This  final 
act  marks  no  great  progress,  but  notes  a  mighty  change. 
God  has  put  the  door  of  hope  across  the  line.     He  who 


THE  VALLEY  OF  ACHOR.  335 

obeys  God's  call  may  enter,  and  entering  cherish  hope. 
He  may  not  know  a  great  deal  of  the  land.  He  may 
not  have  seen  what  lies  beyond  the  valley  of  entrance. 
His  progress  may  be  measured  by  very  short  lines.  He 
may  be  just  across  the  line,  just  within  the  boundary. 
God  bids  him  hope. 

God  puts  the  door  of  hope  just  across  the  line ;  not 
up  in  the  strongholds ;  not  up  in  the  high  mountains, 
approached  by  narrow,  steep  and. difficult  defiles,  to  be 
besieged  and  stormed  and  scaled  by  heroic  act ;  but  in 
the  beautiful,  lowly  vale,  into  which  the  pilgrim  cannot 
help  coming  who  will  only  cross  the  line.  Hope  is  not 
a  matter  of  rich  experience  and  great  advance,  but  of 
clear  title  and  prompt  obedience  to  God's  call.  It  is  not 
a  matter  of  profound  feeling,  but  of  camping  on  the 
other  side  of  the  line  God  has  drawn. 

On  Moab's  heights  ;  in  Israel's  camp.  Come  to  the 
brow  of  this  mountain.  Look  over.  See  threadlike 
Jordan  in  its  deep  gorge.  Beyond  it  the  beautiful  valley 
running  up  into  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  robed  in 
loveliness,  arrayed  in  exquisite  charms.  It  is  a  happy 
place  to  be.  But  more  :  it  is  the  gateway  to  the  entire  land. 
When  God  calls,  obey.  Camp  in  the  valley  of  Achor.  You 
will  find,  wreathed  in  its  graceful  vines,  amidst  its  beauti- 
ful flowers  and  mellow  fruits,  a  door  of  hope,  a  gateway 
to  the  land.  So  God  has  put  for  us  a  beautiful  door  of 
hope  within  reach,  but  across  the  line.  If  you  will  cross 
this  line,  come.  Come  now  to  Jesus  Christ.  This  first 
stand  will  be  to  you  a  door  of  hope.  Through  it  and 
from  it  you  may  advance  to  all  the  treasures  and  delights 
of  grace  and  glory,  too. 

II.    The  Valley  of  Trouble. 
It  is  a  significant  fact  that  Israel's  first  camp  in  Canaan, 


336  SOUTHERN  PRKSBYTKRIAN   PULPIT. 

SO  beautiful  and  bright  and  full  of  hope,  should  be  the 
place  from  which  their  army  went  forth  to  calamitous 
defeat,  and  to  which  the  routed  force  rushed  back  in  dis- 
order and  dismay.  Strangely  significant!  Achor  was 
a  gateway  to  the  entire  land.  Israel  entertained  no  wish 
to  lie  always  at  the  gate,  but,  having  been  happily 
ushered  in,  began  to  plan  for  pushing  further  on. 

A  city  on  the  overhanging  heights  they  conclude  to 
take.  They  send  a  party  up  the  mountain  pass  to 
reconnoitre  and  report.  Their  report :  a  few  can  take  it. 
A  little  army  climbs  up,  is  completely  routed,  and  hastily 
returns.  Alarm  seizes  on  the  entire  host.  The  secret 
of  defeat  God  reveals.  There  is  an  accursed  thing  within 
the  camp.  Call  the  roll.  Achan  is  singled  out.  Out 
of  two  million  people  God  can  discern  the  troubler,  and 
single  out  the  man.  None  can  hide  from  him.  A  multi- 
tude is  no  defence  from  him  with  whom  we  have  to  do. 
God  has  no  difficulties.  He  knows  where  sin  lurks,  and 
he  can  bring  it  forth  into  the  light  of  day. 

Achan  stands  helpless  and  exposed.  What  has  he 
done?  Is  he  a  murderer?  No.  A  blasphemer?  No. 
Unclean  ?  No.  He  is  a  young  man  ;  for  Joshua  says  : 
' '  My  son,  what  hast  thou  done  ?  "  He  confesses  all.  In 
his  tent  is  concealed  a  Babylonish  garment  and  a  wedge  of 
gold,  spoils  of  war.  That  does  not  seem  so  bad  in  itself. 
But  it  is  fearful  in  this  Hght :  God  forbade  it.  There  can 
be  no  greater  sin  than  to  disobey  God.  '  *  Achan,  did  you 
know  it  was  wrong  ?  "  **Yes;  I  hid  it."  He  weeps.  But 
tears  wash  not  away  his  sin.  Make  way.  Stand  around. 
Take  now  the  stones,  and  hurl  them  at  him,  who  brought 
the  accursed  thing  into  Israel's  camp.  Then,  when  he 
lay  dead,  they  heaped  the  stones  on  him  to  mark  the 
spot  where  Israel's  troubler  died.  Whatever  the  beau- 
tiful valley  before  was  named,  henceforth  they  called  it 


THE  VALLEY  OF  ACHOR.  337 

Achor,  Valley  of  Trouble.  Then  the  army  marched  on 
to  victory.  So  even  by  its  gloomy  name  the  valley  of 
Achor  was  to  Israel  a  door  of  hope.  The  trouble  which 
they  encountered  there  was  after  all  a  pledge  of  victory. 

Certain  hard  lessons  which  we  learn  open  to  us  the 
door  of  hope,  and  make  way  for  further  progress,  and 
qualify  us  to  advance.  Religious  life  is  not  meant  to 
cherish  sin,  nor  to  afford  to  sin  a  hiding-place,  where 
unnoticed  it  may  ply  its  deadly  work.  In  the  Christian 
God  does  not  Hcense  sin.  God  is  as  sure  to  punish  sin 
in  his  people  as  in  any  one  else.  God  slew  all  the  rebel- 
lious in  the  wilderness.  They  were  not  allowed  to  enter 
Canaan.  On  Moab's  plains  all  who  were  led  away  into 
idolatry  God  slew.  They  were  not  allowed  to  cross  the 
Jordan.  But  now  the  host  has  crossed  the  border  stream, 
and  is  camped  in  the  valley  just  beyond,  none  aged,  none 
infirm.  Will  not  God  be  indulgent  to  them  now?  See 
here  a  venture.  Achan  disobeys  a  known  command. 
Will  not  God  pass  that  by?  Vain  hope.  Achan  dies 
by  God's  command. 

Sin  is  just  as  bad  in  a  Christian  as  anywhere  else. 
God  will  drive  it  out ;  by  rough  means  it  may  be,  by 
some  means  it  will  be,  though  by  tears  and  sighs  and 
groans.  Your  sin  must  leave.  The  process  may  be 
painful;  but  sin  must  leave.  These  hard  places  become 
monumental  places  in  our  lives,  where  by  severe  correc- 
tion there  is  opened  to  us  a  door  of  hope.  There  is  hope 
for  one  who  has  learned  this  lesson  :  no  sin ;  no  accursed 
thing. 

The  fruit  of  disobedience  is  defeat.  All  check  to 
progress  is  in  sin.  There  were  two  attacks  on  Ai.  How 
different  their  results  !  The  same  men,  the  same  place, 
the  same  courage,  the  same  zeal,  the  same  expectation. 
One  a  disaster;  the  other  a  glorious  success.     Yonder 


338  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

mound  explains  the  difference.  Sin  was  rooted  out. 
The  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  success  of  truth 
and  of  gospel  triumph  is  not  the  number  and  prowess  of 
the  opposing  host ;  not  the  strength  of  his  towars  and 
battlements  and  the  bristling  ramparts  of  his  defence; 
but  it  is  the  disobedience  that  finds  a  lodgment  in 
Jehovah's  host.  Defeat  came  to  Israel,  not  when  foes 
were  mightiest,  but  when  Israel  in  this  was  weakest, 
when  Israel  disobeyed  the  Lord. 

An  unwritten  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  church : 
the  causes  of  defeat.  Not  the  might  of  foes,  nor  the 
number  of  them,  nor  their  munitions  of  war;  no  more 
than  it  was  Ai  that  by  its  might  hurled  back  Israel's 
startled  men.  The  cause  is  in  the  camp.  The  want  is 
at  home.  It  is  in  these  tents  where  tabernacle  the  war- 
riors of  God.  Search  here.  Find  it;  drive  it  out. 
Then  there  can  be  no  successful  resistance  to  the 
gospel  work.  When  we  find  and  kill  the  sin  that 
causes  harm,  we,  too,  shall  call  the  Valley  of  Trouble  a 
door  of  hope. 

All  Israel  did  not  sin  in  this;  but  all  had  trouble 
from  it.  The  trouble,  too,  was  to  the  entire  host  a 
blessing,  because  it  became  to  all  a  door  of  hope.  It  is 
the  hard  lesson  from  which  we  get  most  good,  and  from 
which  opens  widest  the  door  of  hope.  Israel  little 
thought,  as  they  camped  in  that  beautiful  valley,  where 
all  was  so  sweet  and  bright  and  lovely,  where  they  had 
turned  their  backs  on  the  dreadful  desert  and  the  howl- 
ing wilderness,  where  there  were  no  mournful  desert 
winds,  no  rude  storms,  but  musical  brooks  and  gentle 
fountains  and  soft  breezes,  that  they  v^^ere  going  to  have 
a  terrible  sorrow  there.  Yet  it  came,  and  through  no 
fault  of  the  entire  host.  They  had  to  bear  the  burden, 
though  they  did  not  make  it.     But  after  it  was  all  over 


THE  VALLEY  OF  ACHOR.  339 

they  had  learned  a  great  lesson  and  received  a  great 
blessing. 

Our  rest  in  the  valley  of  delight  is  often  interrupted 
and  disturbed.  It  may  not  be  our  fault.  It  may  come 
like  a  mountain  storm,  quick,  sharp,  severe.  The  ex- 
perience may  give  a  new  name  to  our  abode,  a  name  of 
sorrow.  What  shall  we  call  our  once  happy  vale,  where 
our  joys  were  many,  and  our  hopes  were  bright,  and  our 
pleasures  were  as  the  sweet  morning  hours,  where  we 
were  all  together,  and  our  songs  were  happy  ?  What 
shall  we  call  it  now?  Call  it  the  valley  of  Achor.  We 
know  now  what  trouble  is,  and  sorrow  and  tears.  We 
dwell  in  the  shadow  now  •  valley  of  Achor. 

Hark !  From  above  a  voice  that  speaks  in  accents  of 
cheer,  in  contrast  with  our  sad  hearts  and  plaintive 
mood.  Hear !  The  valley  of  Achor  I  will  make  to  you 
a  door  of  hope.  A  heavenly  presence  is  felt.  In  the  deep 
shadows  the  tumultuous  soul  is  stilled.  The  cheering 
music  of  the  heavenly  voice  gladdens  the  heart.  The 
music  of  the  heart  is  transposed  from  chord  to  chord,  till 
all  its  plaintive  notes  are  lost  and  only  cheerful  strains 
remain.  The  brightening  light,  breaking  through  the 
darkness,  chases  the  shadows  all  away.  It  is  the  same 
scene,  but  the  scene  retouched  and  transformed.  The 
valley  of  Achor  still,  but  it  has  become  a  door  of  hope. 
Then  we  thank  God,  who  brought  us  through  the  trouble 
into  peace.  Then,  in  the  new  light,  we  wonder  that  the 
valley  ever  seemed  so  dark. 

III.     The  Valley  of  Renewal. 
Many  a   long   and   weary  year  rolled  by  in    Israel's 
checkered   history   in   which  Achor  is  not  named.      It 
seemed    destined    to    oblivion.      Many    passing   doubt- 
less said,  There  Achan  died.     Judges  ruled  and  kings 


340  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

reigned.  Israel  grew  and  prospered,  then  declined. 
'I'he  kingdom  was  rent  in  twain.  Calamities  befell. 
Disasters  happened.  Worse  destinies  seemed  imminent. 
Apostate,  wicked,  abandoned,  Israel  became.  Idolatries 
and  crimes  of  all  sorts  prevailed.  Oh,  what  a  change ! 
How  sad  and  desperate !  God  calls  Hosea,  and  says  to 
him.  Go,  call  Israel  back.  Invite  them,  allure  them. 
Bid  them  recall  the  olden  time  of  their  zeal  and  piety. 
If  anything  will  soften  the  human  heart,  it  is  calling  up 
the  happy  past.  Call  to  their  mind  the  record  of  the 
good  time  when  their  fathers  crossed  the  Jordan  and 
camped  in  the  valley  of  Achor,  where  they  entered  the 
land,  and  where  they  were  delivered  out  of  trouble.  I 
will  make  it  the  door  of  hope  to  them  again,  and  they 
shall  sing  just  as  they  sang  there  long  ago.  So  this 
long  interval  of  sin  and  sorrow  shall  be  cut  out,  and 
happiness  and  consecration  be  renewed. 

We  are  all  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  irreparable ; 
the  wrongs  in  life  that  we  cannot  right;  the  evils  we 
have  done  that  we  now  cannot  undo ;  the  sins  that 
stay.  A  word  you  said,  you  would  now  like  to  recall, 
but  cannot.  An  act  your  right  hand  did,  you  would 
give  your  right  hand  now  to  undo.  You  have  lost  your 
morning  hours  of  life.  Oh,  if  you  could  bring  them 
back  and  use  them  better !  You  are  suffering  from  early 
wrongs.  A  thousand  sins  perpetually  haunt  you,  and 
mock  your  folly,  by  which  so  easily  you  were  led  astray. 
You  have  drifted  into  ways  from  which  you  cannot  now 
escape.  You  have  contracted  obligations  you  know  not 
how  to  annul,  nor  yet  how  to  meet.  What  a  helpless 
feeling  creeps  over  you,  possesses  you.  Bound,  bounds 
BOUND !  Oh !  to  break  the  chain  and  be  free  again. 
You  are  a  wreck,  a  heap  of  ruins.  You  can  never  get 
back  to  where  you  were.      Poor  remnant  of  a  broken 


THE  VALLEY  OF  ACH01.  34I 

life!  What  can  you  do  with  it?  An  old  man  is  seen 
looking  at  the  children  as  they  play.  What  is  he  think- 
ing about?  How  great  advantage  he  has  over  them  in 
being  farther  on  with  life's  work,  nearer  the  goal,  nearer 
the  great  reward?  Oh,  no;  far  from  it.  He  is  thinking 
of  his  own  misspent  life ;  wishing  he  might  once  more 
stand  at  life's  door  of  hope  ;  thinking  he  would  enter  in, 
go  on,  and  do  well.  But  he  is  a  ruin  now,  and  has  lost 
his  time.      It  is  sad !     The  picture  stands  for  many. 

Hosea,  run  to  that  man,  and  tell  him  the  Lord  can 
make  the  valley  of  his  sorrow  hopeful  yet.  Tell  him 
God  invites.  Tell  him  the  valley  of  Achor  God  can 
make  a  door  of  hope,  though  to  his  dim  vision  there  is 
no  such  bright  prospect  yet  revealed.  In  that  valley 
songs  of  gladness,  as  in  the  olden  days,  may  wake  the 
silence,  or  change  the  sad  refrain  of  hopeless  grief  to  a 
note  of  sweet  delight  and  purest  joy. 

Is  there  a  troubled  soul  now  here  ?  Is  there  here  a 
wrecked  life?  Come  to  the  door  of  hope.  Bring  your 
ruins.  Bring  the  fragments  of  your  life,  no  matter  how 
small.  Bring  the  relics  of  your  love,  no  matter  how 
impaired.  Bring  your  dishonored  bodies,  no  matter 
how  abused.  Bring  your  polluted  hearts,  no  matter 
how  soiled.  God  wishes  you.  God  has  provided  for 
you.  God  calls  you.  He  wishes  you  to  cast  yourself 
down  at  his  feet  as  a  poor  wreck,  to  be  renewed,  re- 
stored by  him.  Oh !  what  can  there  be  made  of  this 
sinful  life?  Much,  very  much.  God  says  he  will  blot 
out  the  wretchedness  you  have  wrought.  He  will  take 
you  back,  back  to  the  first  camping-place,  a  reminiscence 
still  to  you  of  earliest  peace  and  sweetest  joy.  Come  to 
the  valley  of  Achor.  He  will  make  it  to  you  a  door  of 
hope.  You  shall  sing  happy  songs  again,  as  happy  as 
ever  waked  from  its  silence  the  lovely  vale. 


RELIGION   NOT  A   VAIN   THING. 

BY  REV.  SAMUEL  A.   KING,   D.   13., 
Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Waco,  Texas. 


"It  is  not  a  vain  thing  for  you;  because  it  is  your  life." — 
Deut.  xxxii.  47. 

THIS  testimony  was  given  thirty-three  hundred  years 
ago  concerning  personal  and  family  religion.  The 
witness  is  Moses.  Aside  from  his  right  to  be 
heard  as  a  divinely -appointed  messenger,  as  we  believe 
he  was,  the  great  Hebrew  law-giver  is  entitled  to  an 
audience,  and  the  generations  of  men  have  given  heed  to 
his  words,  because  he  was  one  of  the  world's  foremost 
men.  Any  one  tall  enough  to  cast  such  a  shadow  as 
has  been  thrown  by  his  conspicuous  form  across  the 
space  of  three  and  thirty  centuries  will  be  recognized  as 
one  of  the  world's  most  colossal  figures. 

In  considering  his  testimony,  as  it  is  conveyed  to  us 
in  the  text,  I  remark — 

I .   That  he  was  an  i7itelligent  witness. 

No  man  is  brazen  enough  to  dispute  the  intellectual 
greatness  or  the  extraordinary  culture  of  Moses ;  and 
he  was  thoroughly  informed  in  the  matter  about  which 
he  speaks.  He  had  not  simply  taken  his  belief  on  trust. 
True,  the  faith  he  held  was  the  faith  of  his  father  and 
mother.  There  are  some  who  cast  slight  on  those  who 
hold  to  the  religious  beliefs  in  which  they  were  brought 
up.  As  for  me,  I  think  it  no  discredit  to  any  man's  in- 
tellect or  intelligence  to  believe  the  Bible  and  walk  in 
the  paths  of  piety  because  his  father  and  mother  cher- 

342 


-,>irea  to  US 


>  ^^'  -f 


•.ellectual 
^;  and 
:t  whicli 
;;  cm  trust, 
■itherand 

'(i«wllO 


i'j« 


aan'sin- 


RELIGION  NOT  A  VAIN  THING.  343 

ished  the  Christian's  faith  in  life,  and  enjoyed  the  Chris- 
tian's hope  in  death.  If  the  Bible  was  a  sufficient  lamp 
to  the  feet  of  my  father  and  my  mother  along  the  path 
they  trod ;  if  it  guided  them  in  duty,  sustained  them  in 
trial,  was  a  solace  in  old  age  and  a  comfort  in  death,  I 
blush  not  to  avow  myself  a  believer  in  that  religion  in 
whose  faith  they  lived  and  in  whose  hopes  they  died. 

But  this  witness  had  abundant  and  unusual  opportu- 
nities to  compare  the  religious  faith  in  which  he  had 
been  reared  with  those  beliefs  which  were  different  and 
hostile.  He  had  been  taught  in  all  the  learning  of  the 
Egyptians.  He  knew  what  was  the  best  that  could  be 
offered  by  the  world's  wisest  men,  who  had  no  revela- 
tion from  God.  He  knew  what  fruits  had  been  borne 
by  the  one  form  of  faith  and  by  the  other.  And  he  gives, 
in  the  words  before  us,  his  deliberate  and  intelligent 
testimony  on  behalf  of  the  religion  which  was  made 
known  by  revelation  from  God. 

2.  He  was  a  witness  who  had  tested  that  of  which  he 
speaks. 

Many  persons  show  a  disposition  to  discount  the  testi- 
mony of  young  and  enthusiastic  believers — a  disposition 
which  we  cannot  approve.  The  faith  and  zeal  of  David 
and  John  and  Paul  was  as  real  and  as  rational  in  the  morn- 
ing of  their  religious  life  as  in  the  after-ripeness  of  their 
rich  experience.  But  when  any  are  inclined  to  undervalue 
the  testimony  of  a  witness  because  he  has  not  had  his 
faith  tested  by  time,  they  can  offer  no  such  objection  to 
that  of  the  man  whose  words  we  are  considering  to-day. 
He  had  embraced  this  faith  when  young,  and  held  it 
through  all  the  years  till  now  he  was  old.  Through 
loyalty  to  God  and  to  his  people,  he  had  turned  his  back, 
when  a  young  man,  on  the  most  dazzling  prospect  of 
earthly  greatness  that  could   fire  the  ambition  of  any 


344  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

youthful  mind.  And  from  that  day  forth,  in  banish- 
ment, in  poverty,  in  conflict  with  Egypt's  king  and 
court,  in  trials  from  an  unbelieving  and  fickle  people 
whom  he  was  leading  from  bondage  to  liberty,  in  all 
these  weary  years  and  through  all  these  varied  trials,  his 
religion  had  been  put  to  the  severest  test,  and  he  had 
been  able  to  make  proof  of  its  reality  and  its  value. 
With  this  long  experience  behind  him  he  utters  with 
his  aged  lips  the  testimony  in  our  text. 

3.   He  was  a  dismterested  wit?iess. 

He  had  nothing  now  to  gain  by  speaking  aught  ex- 
cept the  truth.  He  was  now  uttering  his  last  words. 
In  our  courts  of  justice  the  declarations  of  a  dying  man 
are  accepted  as  valid  testimony.  It  is  believed  that  the 
hour  of  death  is  ' '  life's  honest  hour ' ' ;  that  when  one  is 
on  the  border-line  between  the  life  that  is  and  the  life  to 
come  the  lips  will  speak  the  truth.  Moses  had  been 
told  that  he  must  die.  Before  ascending  the  mountain 
to  view  the  promised  land  and  then  to  die,  he  spoke  these 
words,  which  were  his  "dying  declarations"  as  to  the 
truth  and  the  preciousness  of  that  religion  in  the  light 
of  which  he  had  walked  "till  travelling  days  were 
done. ' ' 

I.   The  testimony  of  this  witness  .• 

(i),   It  is  not  a  vain  thing.' 

Our  religion  is  not  a  vain  thing  in  the  sense  of  lacking 
sufficient  proof. 

We  who  believe  the  Bible  to  be  the  word  of  God  have 
solid  ground  on  which  to  rest  our  faith,  and  can  give 
to  every  one  that  asks  us  "a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is 
in  us."  We  invite  those  who  would  know  the  grounds 
of  our  confidence  to  '  *  walk  about  Zion  and  go  round 
about  her,  to  mark  her  bulwarks  and  consider  her 
palaces." 


RELIGION  NOT  A  VAIN  THING.  345 

It  is  not  a  vain  thing  because  it  is  not  a  specidatiori  or 
an  unpractical  belief  . 

Religion  is  practical  or  nothing.  It  prescribes  a  rule 
of  life.  It  sets  a  watch  at  the  door  of  our  lips,  and  de- 
mands that  our  words  shall  be  loving  and  truthful  and 
chaste. 

It  goes  where  no  human  law  can  enter  and  asserts 
authority  where  no  human  ruler  can  exercise  dominion, 
in  the  secret  chambers  of  the  soul.  It  demands  that  the 
thoughts  and  affections  shall  be  subordinated  to  its  con- 
trol. That  which  prescribes  a  law  for  the  outward  life, 
which  brings  us  into  judgment  for  even  idle  words,  and 
claims  to  regulate  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart, 
is  far  removed  from  being  a  vain  speculation,  or  the  un- 
fruitful belief  of  a  doctrine  or  a  creed,  it  is  intensely  and 
preeminently  practical. 

It  may  be  added  that  a  religion  which  has  borne  such 
fruits  in  personal  godliness,  in  household  piety,  and  in 
the  moral  renovation  of  communities  and  states,  whose 
presence  in  any  age  or  land  can  be  as  surely  recognized 
by  its  effects  as  can  the  course  of  a  running  stream  b}^ 
the  verdure  that  adorns  its  banks,  is  not  a  vain  thing  when 
tried  by  the  supreme  test  of  being  judged  by  its  fruits. 

(2) ,   It  is  your  life. 

This  is  true  as  to  nations. 

Israel  furnishes  a  telling  illustration.  Immediately 
following  the  words  of  the  text  it  is  added:  *'And 
through  this  thing  ye  shall  prolong  your  days  in  the 
land  whither  ye  go  over  Jordan  to  possess  it. " 

While  the  people  of  Israel  obeyed  the  commands  the 
promised  blessings  were  enjoyed.  They  did  not  con- 
tinue in  possession  of  the  fair  land  bestowed  upon  them 
because  they  did  not  continue  to  set  their  hearts  to  the 
words  of  God's  law  to  keep  them. 


346  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

Dispersed  among  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  scattered  and 
peeled  and  without  a  local  habitation,  they  are  a  standing 
proof  of  the  truth  of  Scripture  prophecies,  and  their  his- 
tory bears  witness  that  religion  is  not  a  vain  thing  for 
peoples,  and  commonwealths,  and  kingdoms,  because  it 
is  their  life. 

This  great  truth  is  in  as  full  force  to-day  as  when  it 
was  uttered  by  the  renowned  Hebrew  leader,  and  its  ful- 
filment afterwards  registered  in  the  sad  chronicles  of  the 
Hebrew  people.  Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation.  Sin 
is  a  reproach  to  any  people,  and  will  work  their  ruin. 
The  mills  of  the  Almighty  Ruler  "grind  slow,  but  they 
grind  exceeding  fine."  The  history  of  states  and  king- 
doms that  have  risen,  and  prospered,  and  then  gone  to 
decay  and  ruin,  is  eloquent  and  emphatic  in  confirmation 
of  the  truth  of  our  text. 

There  is  a  lesson  and  a  warning  here  for  us.  Our 
country  is  on  trial. 

The  perpetuity  of  our  free  institutions  and  the  con- 
tinuance of  that  prosperity  which  has  hitherto  been 
enjoyed,  the  life  of  our  republic,  cannot  be  assured 
except  on  condition  of  loyalty  to  God  and  obedience  to 
his  commands. 

All  our  vast  resources,  our  teeming  population,  our 
intelligence  and  energy,  our  Anglo-Saxon  blood  and 
prowess  will  not  prevent  the  sure  coming  of  decay  and 
ruin,  if  we  cease  to  be  a  people  whose  God  is  the  Lord. 

The  Bible,  the  sanctuary,  the  Sabbath  and  the  Chris- 
tian home  are  chief  among  the  defences  which  will  secure 
to  us  and  to  our  children  our  fair  inheritance.  The  Bible 
has,  in  times  past,  been  fiercely  set  upon,  but  like  the 
anvil  in  the  smithy,  it  is  surrounded  by  the  hammers 
that  have  been  worn  out  upon  its  surface. 

The  chief  attack  to-day  is  upon  the  Sabbath  ;  and  if  we 


RELIGION  NOT  A  VAIN  THING.  347 

let  the  Lord's  day  be  despoiled  of  its  sacredness  and 
given  over  to  worldly  pastime,  or  trodden  in  the  mire  of 
worldly  traffic  by  those  who  are  led  astray  by  the  mad- 
dening greed  for  gain,  we  will  have  reached  "the  begin- 
ning of  the  end. ' ' 

If  the  Sabbath  of  the  Puritan  and  the  Hollander  and 
the  Scot,  the  holy  Sabbath  of  our  fathers  and  our  mothers, 
shall  be  exchanged  for  the  ' '  Continental  Sunday ' '  of 
modern  Europe,  or  the  fete-day  of  Mexico  ;  if  instead  of 
the  holy  day  we  have  the  holiday,  there  will  follow  a 
sure  and  perhaps  a  swift  decay,  and  the  time  will  come 
when  upon  all  the  temples  of  our  prosperity  and  great- 
ness will  be  written  "  Ichabod,"  for  the  glory  will  have 
departed. 

It  is  true  oi families  that  religio7i  is  their  life. 

It  is  the  godly  families  that  last. 

In  the  early  days  here  in  Texas  there  were  some  large 
and  noted  families  whose  names  were  familiar  as  house- 
hold words.  They  were  ungodly  and  dissipated  and 
reckless  of  human  life.  Their  stalwart  sons  were 
the  dread  of  the  communities  in  which  they  lived. 
Though  numerous  then,  they  are  now  extinct.  Their 
names  are  almost  forgotten,  and  most  of  those  who  bore 
them  went  down  to  bloody  graves  "unwept,  unhonored, 
and  unsung." 

In  many  communities  in  the  older  states  can  be  seen 
the  workings  of  this  great  law  of  life.  There  linger 
there  the  memories  of  prominent  families,  who  were  gay 
and  godless.  They  were  possessed  of  large  estates,  and 
held  high  social  place  by  reason  of  birth  and  blood  and 
wealth.  They  lived  high  and  fast,  without  the  fear  of 
God  or  consideration  of  aught  but  the  lighter  or  darker 
indulgences  of  a  worldly  life.  They  have  disappeared. 
Other  names  are  known  where  theirs  were  once  most 


348  SOUTHKRN  PRESBYTERIAN  ipULPIT. 

prominent.  Other  owners  hold  their  great  estates  and 
occupy  the  stately  homes  where  worldliness  bore  rule 
and  godliness  was  eschewed. 

But  there  were  other  homes — some  elegant  and  some 
humble — in  which  the  parents  set  their  hearts  to  God's 
word,  and  commanded  their  children  to  observe  to  do  all 
the  words  of  his  law.  The  family  altar  was  the  centre 
of  household  life ;  the  family  Bible  was  enthroned  in  the 
place  of  honor,  and  the  "sweet  hour  of  prayer"  was  the 
gateway  through  which  they  went  forth  in  the  morning 
to  the  labors  of  the  day,  and  at  evening  time  to  the 
peaceful  slumbers  of  the  night.  The  sons  and  daugh- 
ters trained  by  the  precept  and  example  of  parents  w^ho 
' '  lured  to  brighter  worlds  and  led  the  way ' '  have  per- 
petuated the  honored  names  their  fathers  bore.  In 
many  cases  they  occupy  the  old  ancestral  homes.  The 
rolls  of  members  in  the  churches  and  of  those  who 
are  now  ministers,  elders,  deacons,  and  Sabbath-school 
teachers  are  largely  filled  with  the  names  of  those  \vho 
were  the  fathers  and  mothers  in  Israel  in  the  generation 
that  went  before.  Godliness  is  not  a  vain  thing  for  fami- 
lies ;  it  is  their  life,  and  through  it  they  prolong  their 
days. 

For  individuals  religion  is  not  a  vain  thing ;  it  is  their  life. 

It  is  not  merely  a  preparation  for  death.  It  is  not 
* '  life ' '  in  the  sense  of  beiiig  or  existence,  though  temper- 
ance and  chastity  and  godliness  tend  to  the  strengthen- 
ing and  preservation  of  physical  and  mental  health  and 
life.  Life  is  a  larger  word  than  mere  existence.  In 
common  speech  we  recognize  the  distinction  when  we 
say  that  one  has  a  great  deal  of  or  very  little  life,  or 
when  we  say  of  one  whose  lot  has  been  isolated,  or  his 
surroundings  disagreeable,  that  he  stayed  in  such  a  place 
for  a  given  time,  but  that  he  did  not  live. 


RELIGION  NOT  A  VAIN  THING.  349 

When  one  is  possessed  of  the  peace  which  comes 
from  being  justified  by  faith,  and  of  a  realized  fellowship 
with  God  as  our  Father  and  with  Jesus  Christ  as  our 
Saviour  and  friend ;  when  mind  and  heart  are  filled  and 
fired  with  the  high  conception  that  man's  chief  end  is  to 
glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever ;  when  '  *  sustained 
and  soothed  by  an  unfaltering  trust ' '  that  all  things  in 
life  shall  work  together  for  good,  and  that  dying  will  be 
but  going  home,  then  there  is  life  in  the  full  meaning  of 
the  large  word,  for  then  the  whole  man  lives.  All  the 
faculties  must  be  employed,  and  all  the  desires  of  man's 
nature  must  be  met  in  order  that  life,  in  its  fulness,  be 
realized.  Man's  moral  nature;  his  sense  of  account- 
ability to  God  and  his  relation  to  the  future  and  to  immor- 
tality, these  are  as  real  as  his  possession  of  a  body  and  a 
mind.  His  consciousness  of  sin  and  of  his  need  to  be 
reconciled  to  God  in  order  to  have  peace  of  conscience 
and  a  hope  of  heaven  cannot  be  denied  or  ignored.  Only 
the  gospel  meets  the  requirements  of  man's  religious 
nature,  and  makes  provision  for  satisfying  the  desires  of 
the  soul. 

A  bird  has  a  nature  which  prompts  it  to  fly  in  the  air, 
and  its  wings  are  fitted  for  free  and  graceful  movement 
in  the  fields  of  space.  You  capture  the  little  feathered 
songster  and  confine  it  within  the  bars  of  a  cage.  It 
may  be  a  gilded  cage,  and  its  place  may  be  amid  the  fair 
surroundings  of  one  of  earth's  most  luxurious  homes. 
The  little  captive  may  be  caressed  and  petted,  and  its 
dainty  food  may  be  served  by  a  fair  and  jeweled  hand. 
But  that  caged  existence  is  not  life  to  the  little  bird.  If 
you  would  minister  to  its  real  life  you  must  open  the 
prison  doors  and  permit  it  to  go  forth  on  eager  wing  to 
fly  in  the  upper  air  and  warble  in  cheerful  notes  its  glad 
song  of  freedom. 


350  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

The  prodigal  son  existed  in  the  far-off  land ;  but  was 
it  life?  He  had  the  memory  of  his  early  home,  of  a 
father's  care  and  a  mother's  love.  He  had,  moreover, 
the  consciousness  of  sin,  and  the  remorse  the  sinner 
must  sooner  or  later  feel.  He  was  far  away  from  the 
well-remembered  home,  without  friends  or  friendship; 
forced  to  occupy  himself  with  uncongenial  toil ;  fain  to 
satisfy  his  hunger  with  the  food  of  the  swine  he  herded, 
and  was  far  more  miserable  than  the  unclean  beasts 
which  it  was  his  daily  task  to  feed. 

That  existence  was  not  life  to  him.  But  when  "he 
came  to  himself, ' '  and  his  returning  feet  bore  him  back 
to  the  home  he  had  left ;  when  the  deep  penitence  of  his 
softened  heart  found  expression  in  the  words  of  confes- 
sion that  leaped  from  his  lips,  and  he  was  embraced  in 
the  father's  arms  and  welcomed  back  to  sonship  in  the 
father's  house,  oh !  then  the  lost  was  found,  and  he  who 
had  been  dead  was  alive  again. 

Man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone.  When  creature- 
good  is  enjoyed  in  fullest  measure  it  does  not  satisfy. 
The  ox  that  feeds  upon  our  plains  can  satisfy  his  hun- 
ger with  the  tempting  grass,  quench  his  thirst  at  the 
running  brook,  and  then  lie  down  in  the  nearest  shade 
and  be  at  perfect  rest.  Every  want  his  nature  knows 
has  been  fully  met.  He  has  no  bitter  memories  of  the 
past,  no  forebodings  of  the  future,  and  no  consciousness 
of  wrong  to  make  him  ill  at  ease.  But  it  is  not  thus 
with  man.  He  cannot  feed  the  hunger  of  his  soul  with 
the  things  of  earth,  nor  satisfy  its  thirst  with  worldly 
pleasure,  wealth,  or  fame.  Only  the  bread  of  heaven 
and  the  water  of  life  can  feed  and  satisfy  the  soul.  The 
gospel  offers  these.  The  Saviour  came  into  the  world 
that  we  * '  might  have  life,  and  that  we  might  have  it  more 
abundantly."      "In  him  is  life,  and  the  life  is  the  light 


RELIGION  NOT  A  VAIN  THING.  35  I 

of  men."  Coming  to  him  we  obtain  pardon,  and  with 
it  peace.  The  soul  that  was  dead  in  sin  is  quickened 
into  life.  Spiritural  life  breathes  in  prayer,  rejoices  in  fel- 
lowship with  God  and  all  the  good,  and  finds  ennobling 
use  for  all  the  faculties  and  employment  for  all  the  days 
in  consecrated  service.  The  affections  have  an  object 
suited  to  their  heavenly  birth  in  a  divine  Saviour,  who 
is  "chief  among  ten  thousand  and  altogether  lovely." 
And  this  spiritual  life,  beginning  in  grace,  will  be  per- 
fected in  glory.  "He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath 
everlasting  life. "  .  .  . 

How  do  you,  my  hearer,  esteem  this  religion  of  which 
our  text  bears  witness  ?  You  may  say  that  you  set  high 
value  on  it,  and  that  you  believe  the  Scriptures  and  all 
they  teach  concerning  Christ  and  the  great  salvation. 
This  may  be  the  utterance  of  your  lips,  but  what  is  the 
language  of  your  life?  There  is  a  familiar  adage  that 
"actions  vSpeak  louder  than  words."  Do  you  act  as 
though  this  were  a  vain  thing,  or  to  you  the  "one  thing 
needful  "  ?  To  profess  to  believe  the  Bible  and  to  acknow- 
ledge the  importance  of  personal  religion,  and  yet  neglect 
the  great  salvation,  is  a  fearfully  inconsistent  course. 

The  man  whose  heart  has  led  him  to  be  an  atheist  is 
consistent  with  his  cheerless  creed  when  he  lives  with- 
out God  and  without  hope  in  the  world.  He  who  can 
walk  amid  the  foot-prints  of  the  Deity,  which  are  im- 
pressed on  all  the  acres  of  the  globe ;  who  can  lift  his 
eyes  to  yon  heavens,  where  the  Maker's  name  is  written 
in  syllables  of  stars ;  who  can  shut  his  eyes  to  all  the 
proofs  of  God's  being  and  wisdom  and  power  that  are 
above  and  about  and  within  him,  and  say,  "there  is  no 
God,"  he  is  consistent  with  his  cold  and  dreadful  belief 
when  he  lives  as  though  it  were  "  all  of  life  to  live,  and 
all  of  death  to  die." 


352  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

i'he  skeptic,  who  does  not  accept  these  Scriptures  as 
the  word  of  (lod ;  who  is  so  credulous  as  to  beheve  that 
this  wonderful  book  was  written  by  unaided  men ;  who 
can  believe  that  the  character,  and  the  life,  and  the 
words  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  were  the  product  of  the 
thought  of  the  fishermen  of  Galilee,  and  that  they  died 
for  bearing  witness  to  the  resurrection  of  a  Saviour  who 
did  not  rise  from  the  dead ;  the  man  who  can  believe  all 
this  is  consistent  in  refusing  to  yield  to  this  Saviour  the 
love  of  his  heart  and  the  loyalty  of  his  life. 

But  not  so  with  you,  if  you  profess  to  believe  the 
Scriptures  to  be  the  word  of  God,  and  to  accept  their 
teachings  about  sin  and  salvation,  about  heaven  and 
hell,  and  yet  treat  as  a  vain  thing  "the  hope  set  before 
you  in  the  gospel ' '  by  neglecting  to  lay  hold  upon  it. 
How  have  j^ou  been  treating  him  who  has  been  stand- 
ing and  knocking  at  the  door  of  your  heart  through  all 
your  years  ?  What  of  your  attitude  to  the  church,  in 
which  he  asks  you  to  take  your  place  and  confess  him 
before  men? 

What  does  your  action  say  when  the  communion  board 
is  spread,  and  that  Saviour  whom  you  honor  with  your 
lips  says  to  you,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me,"  and 
you  refuse  to  take  a  place  among  those  who  remember 
his  love? 

Were  I  to  ask  you  on  what  terms  you  would  barter 
away  your  faith  in  the  Bible  and  your  hope  that  some 
day  you  may  be  able  to  * '  read  a  title  clear  to  a  mansion 
in  the  skies,"  I  doubt  not  you  would  shrink  with  shud- 
dering from  the  proposal,  and  declare  that  you  would 
not  make  that  fearful  bargain  for  a  price  that  worlds 
would  rate  for.  But,  dear  dying  friend,  what  is  the  lan- 
guage of  your  life  ? 

My  Christian   friends,  do  we   manifest   such  earnest 


RELIGION  NOT  A  VAIN  THING.  353 

devotion  to  the  Master  we  profess  to  serve,  and  give 
such  diligence  to  make  our  calhng  and  election  sure,  as 
to  give  proof  that  with  us  religion  is  not  a  vain  thing  but 
that  it  is  our  life  ?  May  God  help  us  to  walk  worthy  of 
our  high  vocation,  and  to  show,  by  the  choices  we  make 
and  the  lives  we  live,  that  we  ' '  count  all  things  but  loss 
for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord." 

This  religion,  to  which  the  testimony  of  Moses  was 
borne  so  long  ago,  is  an  old  religion.  Some  things  are 
the  better  for  being  old.  Were  we  to  seek  a  shelter 
beneath  which  to  pitch  our  tent  we  would  not  choose 
the  blooming  and  graceful  vine  that  had  sprung  into 
being  and  beauty  since  the  last  frost  and  would  perish 
with  the  next.  Rather  would  we  select  an  oak,  like 
that  beneath  which  Abram  dwelt  at  Mamre,  and 
which,  gnarled  and  knotted  though  it  might  be,  has 
anchored  its  great  roots  amid  the  rocks  beneath  the  sod, 
and  with  giant  arms  has  waged  victorious  struggle  with 
the  winds  and  storms  of  centuries.  When  we  seek  a 
place  on  which  to  build  a  home  we  do  not  go  to  the  tide- 
washed  beach  whose  sands  may  have  been  cast  into 
forms  of  beauty  by  the  movement  of  the  waves,  and 
strewn  with  shells  and  coral  that  have  been  lavished  on 
its  surface  by  the  sea.  We  would  go  rather  to  some  firm 
ground  beyond  the  reach  of  tides,  and  digging  deep  till 
we  find  the  rock,  we  would  there  build  our  habitation, 
and  then  feel  sure  that  though  ' '  the  rains  may  descend, 
and  the  floods  come,  and  the  winds  blow  and  beat  upon 
our  house,  it  will  not  fall  because  founded  on  a  rock." 

Were  we  about  to  cross  the  sea  we  would  not  choose 

the  new  and  gaily-painted  vessel  that,  fresh  from  the 

builder's  yard,   was  just  weighing  anchor  for  her  trial 

trip.     We  would  prefer  the  veteran  ship  whose  timbers 

23 


354  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

had  been  tested  by  the  waves,  and  whose  sails  had  been 
tried  and  mayhap  torn  by  the  storms  through  which  the 
staunch  vessel  had  often  borne  her  living  freight  to  the 
desired  haven. 

In  rehgion  "  what  is  new  is  not  true,  and  what  is  true 
is  not  new." 

We  will  only  build  wisely  when  we  build  on  the  Rock 
of  Ages. 

In  choosing  the  bark  on  which  to  venture  the  precious 
interests  of  our  souls  and  our  hopes  of  heaven,  let  us 
take  up  with  no  speculation  of  * '  modern  thought "  ;  no 
faith  that  claims  to  be  better,  because  newer,  than  that 
in  which  our  fathers  and  mothers  lived  and  died.  But 
let  us  make  our  voyage,  as  did  they,  in  *'  the  old  ship  of 
Zion,  which  has  landed  many  thousands  and  can  land  as 
many  more." 


\/ 


'p  ^'  ^f  :ur 


BY    RI:V.   C.    K.    HhMl'HlLL,   D.    D., 
Pas  for  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Louhvilh\ 


"Ye  call  me  Master  and   Lord 
am." — John  xiii.  17. 


aud   3'e  say  well .    for  so   I 


JESUS  and  the  twelve  were  assembled  in  it.e  upper 
room  of  some  unknown  host  in  Jerusalem  to  celebrate 
the  passover.      It  was  the  same  night  in  which  he 

ere  gathered  al>:)ut  the 

:c  his  garments:   took  a 

!  himself;  pourwl  water  into  a  basin,  and 

.  .iio  disoples'  feet.     He  takes  his  garments  and 

su:>    I'jwn  again,  and  says  to  hi^»  disciples,   "Know  ye 

what  I  have  done  to  you  ?    Ye  <  all  nie  Master  and  Lord : 

and  ye  say  well:  for  so  I  am."     Is  he  mistaken  who 

finds  here,  an  acted  parable  of  the  incarnation  ?     The  Son 

of  God  had  abandoned  hvs  throne  in  heaven;  had  laid 

aside  the  glory  of  his  divinity ;  had  girded  himself  w4th 

the  nature  of  man,  and  set  himself  to  the  lowly  service 

-     cleansing  and  saving  men.     In  a  little  while  he  is  to 

to  the  heaven  whence  he  came,  and  to  robe  him- 

'\  the  glory  which  he  had  with  the  Father  before 

■  v  as.    The  Son  of  man  is  <:he  Son  of  God.     He 

that  \>.  lien  as  he  that  servcth  is  also  over  men  as 

he  th:>;  **  Ye  call  me  Master  and  Lord:  and  y^ 

sa  .ese  titles  by  which  you  a/' 

dress  iiK,  c  no  mere  conventionalities  of 

speech ;  in  ■  import  they  are  true. 

355 


:M' 


*  A%  -k  *A  "4. 
■    k  U  'i  "-v^  '*^ 


35^  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

Master  means  teacher,  Lord  means  owner  or  ruler; 
fusing  these  ideas  together,  the  authority  of  teacher  over 
pupil,  of  master  over  servant,  of  ruler  over  subject,  we 
arrive  at  the  conception  of  supreme  and  absolute  au- 
thority. The  humble  figure  that  a  few  moments  ago 
was  discharging  so  menial  an  office  now  assumes  to 
himself  a  dignity  and  an  authority  none  other  of  the 
sons  of  men  have  ever  ventured  to  claim.  To  vindicate 
the  right  of  Jesus  to  the  supremacy  he  claims  does  not 
fall  within  my  purpose.  I  set  before  me  the  humbler 
task  of  defining  his  authority  in  its  nature  and  extent. 

Many  of  his  most  familiar  sayings  carry  with  them  the 
strongest  assertion  of  his  authority,  and  serve  to  display 
its  nature.  Here  are  some  of  them:  "Ye  believe  in 
God,  believe  also  in  me  "  ;  *  *  I  am  the  Bread  of  Life ' '  ; 
**If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink"  ; 
' '  I  am  the  Light  of  the  world  "  ;  "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven 
thee  "  ;  "  The  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his 
Father  with  his  angels "  ;  *  *  The  dead  shall  hear  the 
voice  of  the  Son  of  God  "  ;  * '  The  Father  hath  given  him 
authority  to  execute  judgment."  When  one  speaks  in 
this  fashion  it  is  natural  for  him  to  add,  "For  one  is 
your  Master,  even  Christ."  To  reach  a  more  adequate 
notion  of  the  authority  with  which  Jesus  invests  him- 
self, let  us  dwell  on  some  of  his  utterances.  "I  am 
the  Way,"  he  declares.  Many  are  the  roads,  made 
smooth  by  the  tread  of  many  feet,  over  which  men  have 
travelled  to  find  God.  These  paths  end  in  darkness. 
Jesus  is  clothed  with  the  authority  to  lead  men  into  the 
knowledge  of  God,  and  to  bring  them  into  his  presence ; 
he  is  himself  the  way.  "No  man  cometh  unto  the 
Pather,  but  by  me." 

"  I  am  the  good  Shepherd. ' '  The  mark  of  the  shep- 
herd is  authority,  wielded,  it  is  true,  with  sympathy  and 


JESUS'   SUPREME  AUTHORITY.  357 

tenderness,  but  authority  still.  The  flock  must  follow 
the  steps  of  the  shepherd,  and  yield  to  his  guidance  and 
control.  Jesus  is  the  good  Shepherd,  the  only  true 
Shepherd  of  the  sheep ;  all  others  are  thieves  and  rob- 
bers. At  the  head  of  the  flock  walks  Jesus,  and  only 
those  who  hear  his  voice  and  follow  him  will  reach  the 
shelter  of  the  heavenly  fold. 

"I  am  the  Truth,"  Jesus  affirms.  Amid  the  babel  of 
human  tongues,  crying,  '4o!  here,  lo  !  there,"  is  heard 
this  saying  of  Jesus,  so  quietly  spoken  that  we  may  fail 
to  hear  it  or  to  compass  its  meaning.  The  old  fable  is 
that  truth  once  existed  in  the  beauty  and  unity  of  com- 
plete proportions,  but  was  torn  into  fragments  and 
the  fragments  scattered  to  the  winds.  Men  have  been 
haunted  by  the  vision  of  truth's  pristine  unity,  and, 
cherishing  the  dream  of  its  restoration,  have  been  pa- 
tiently seeking  the  severed  parts.  Jesus  declares  man's 
dream  fulfilled.  The  sovereignty  of  truth  is  imperial, 
her  voice  is  imperative  to  the  minds  of  men,  the  voice, 
indeed,  of  God.  This  sovereign  authority  of  truth  Jesus 
takes  to  himself.  The  august  functions  of  the  Judge  of 
all  the  earth  are  among  the  prerogatives  of  Jesus.  He 
pictures  the  solemn  scenes  of  final  judgment,  and 
paints  himself  the  central  figure.  Before  his  throne  are 
gathered  all  nations ;  in  his  hands  is  lodged  the  destiny 
of  every  man;  and  from  his  presence  march  the  long 
files  of  the  generations  of  men  to  their  everlasting 
abodes. 

Observe  how  the  acts  of  Jesus  illustrate  and  lend  force 
to  his  words.  The  winds  and  the  waves  are  untamed 
by  man,  and  are  the  very  symbols  of  immeasurable 
power.  See  Jesus  amid  the  storm.  He  rises  in  the 
little  ship  tossing  on  the  billows,  rebukes  the  wind  and  it 
hushes  to  silence;  says  to  the  waves,  "Peace,  be  still," 


358  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

and  there  is  a  great  calm.  "What  manner  of  man  is 
this,  that  even  the  wind  and  the  sea  obey  him  ?  " 

Death  is  the  last  and  mightiest  enemy  of  man.  In  his 
fear  man  pictures  death  with  crown  and  sceptre.  See 
Jesus  confronting  those  whose  lips  are  now  sealed  and 
whose  beating  hearts  are  stilled.  "Little  girl,  I  say 
unto  thee,  arise."  "Lazarus,  come  forth."  The  dead 
hear  this  voice  of  authority  and  power.  Jesus  smites 
the  sceptre  from  death  and  flings  his  crown  into  the 
dust. 

See  Jesus  face  to  face  with  the  alien  powers  of  hell 
which  have  invaded  the  inner  life  of  man.  He  meets  a 
man  whose  home  was  the  tombs,  whom  no  man  could 
bind,  no,  not  with  chains  ;  who  was  possessed  of  a  legion 
of  demons.  At  his  word  the  demons  tremble  and  flee; 
peace  falls  on  the  troubled  spirit  of  the  fierce  demoniac, 
and  he  sits  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  clothed,  and  in  his  right 
mind.  The  regnant  spirit  of  Jesus  betrays  itself  in  his 
whole  tone  and  attitude.  It  compasses  him  as  an  atmos- 
phere. Compare  him  with  the  religious  teachers  of  his 
time.  They  were  meri  of  learning  and  of  prestige  among 
the  people.  Venerable  precedent  and  hoary  tradition 
were  the  sanction  of  their  teachings.  The  method  of 
Jesus  was  altogether  different.  He  uttered  himself;  he 
was  a  voice  and  not  an  echo.  People  w^ere  quick  to  de- 
tect the  contrast,  and  to  catch  the  tone  of  this  new 
teacher.  ' '  The  multitudes  were  astonished  at  his  teach- 
ing :  for  he  taught  them  as  one  having  authority,  and 
not  as  the  scribes."  This  accent  of  authority  is  felt  in 
passing  from  the  prophets  to  Jesus.  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord,"  is  the  formula  of  the  prophet:  "Verily,  verily, 
I  say  unto  you,"  is  the  formula  of  Jesus.  Prophecy 
itself  confesses  his  superiority.  In  John  the  Baptist 
Old  Testament  prophecy  comes  to  its   flower  and  con- 


JESUS'  SUPREME  AUTHORITY.  359 

summation,  and  in  him  does  homage  to  Jesus  and  veils 
its  face  before  his  brighter  glory. 

The  bearing  and  tone  of  Jesus  unite  with  his  words 
and  deeds  to  impress  on  us  the  authority,  altogether 
singular  and  supreme,  to  which  he  lays  claim.  We  no 
longer  wonder  that  Jesus  fails  to  rebuke  Nathaniel,  who 
calls  him  the  Son  of  God ;  commends  Peter,  who  confesses 
him  to  be  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God;  and 
shrinks  not  from  the  worship  of  Thomas,  who  hails  him, 
my  Lord  and  my  God  !  *  *  Ye  call  me  Master  and  Lord ; 
and  ye  say  well ;  for  so  I  am. ' ' 

Authority  may  be  absolute  in  nature,  yet  may  be  lim- 
ited in  range.  Has  Jesus  traced  limits  within  which  he 
is  to  be  supreme,  and  beyond  which  he  is  to  be  as  other 
men?  We  discover  none.  His  authority  is  coextensive 
with  the  faculties  and  acts  and  relations  of  man.  The 
Lord  Jesus  is  not  a  sovereign  who  commands  obedience 
in  certain  spheres  only ;  he  is  supreme  over  the  whole 
man.  He  is  the  Lord  of  the  reason.  He  comes  within 
the  realm  of  the  intelligence,  and  requires  subjection  to 
himself.  He  is  to  be  "the  master-light  of  all  our  see- 
ing." The  truths  he  utters  are  fixed  points  from  which 
thought  is  to  travel,  and  to  which  it  is  to  return.  The  find- 
ings of  the  reason  are  to  be  construed  in  relation  to  his 
teachings,  and  corrected  by  them.  He  does  not  argue, 
he  declares.  **  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,"  is  reason 
enough  for  our  reason. 

Jesus  is  Lord  of  the  affections.  Our  love  we  regard  as 
peculiarly  our  own,  and  a  stranger  may  not  intermeddle 
with  our  affections;  we  will  give  or  withhold,  as  we 
may  choose.  But  Jesus  prefers  the  highest  claim  upon 
our  love.  Even  as  his  brothers'  sheaves  bowed  before 
the  sheaf  of  Joseph,  so  the  affections  that  we  cherish  for 
father,  mother,  wife,  children,  must  yield  to  the  aflfec- 


360  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

tioii  we  give  to  him.  The  very  centre  is  to  be  shifted, 
and  the  movement  of  Ufe  must  revolve  about  him. 

Jesus  is  the  Lord  of  the  conscience.  It  is  a  common- 
place of  our  thinking  that  freedom  of  conscience  is  the 
inalienable  right  and  the  proper  heritage  of  man;  yet 
with  a  great  sum  of  tears  and  blood  have  we  obtained  it. 
This  holy  of  holies  of  man's  nature,  within  which  king 
nor  priest  may  come,  Jesus  claims  the  right  to  enter. 
The  voice  of  conscience  is  to  be  the  echo  of  his  voice,  its 
decisions  to  be  guided  by  his  judgments,  and  to  be  regis- 
tered for  final  appeal  at  his  bar. 

Jesus  is  Lord  of  the  will .  Through  this  executive  power 
man  translates  thought  and  motive  and  purpose  into  ac- 
tion, and  expresses  himself.  Here,  too,  Jesus  asserts 
supremacy.  This  mysterious  and  masterful  faculty  of 
man  must  guide  its  movement  by  Christ's  will. 

"Strong  Son  of  God,  immortal  Love, 

Our  wills  are  ours,  we  know  not  how , 
Our  wills  are  ours,  to  make  them  thine." 

With  claims  so  lofty,  and  covering  the  amplitude  of 
man's  nature,  the  marvel  is  that  Jesus  is  not  pelted 
from  the  world.  We  remember  that  for  his  pretensions 
the  Jews  more  than  once  took  up  stones  to  stone  him.  A 
Socrates,  or  a  Confucius,  or  a  Paul,  who  would  arrogate  to 
himself  claims  like  these,  would  be  despised  for  his  folly. 
There  is  something  in  man  that  restrains  him  from  has- 
tily resenting  the  claims  of  Jesus — an  instinctive  recog- 
nition, it  may  be,  of  the  right  of  Jesus  to  be  Master  and 
Lord. 

Not  that  the  authority  of  Jesus  passes  without  chal- 
lenge. In  unfolding  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  claims 
Jesus  makes  upon  the  allegiance  of  men,  I  have  had  in 
mind  some  contrary  teachings  of  our  time.  This  comes 
not  only  from  the  avowed  opponents  of  Christ.     Some 


JESUS'  SUPREME  AUTHORITY.  361 

of  those  who  count  themselves  his  loyal  disciples  deny 
him  knowledge,  and,  therefore,  authority,  in  some  re- 
gions where  modern  scholarship  is  most  busy.  It  is 
said,  for  instance,  that  in  regard  to  the  history  of  Israel 
and  the  origin  of  Israel's  sacred  books  Jesus  had  no 
knowledge,  or,  at  any  rate,  delivered  no  authoritative 
teaching.  Expressions  of  his  which  seem  to  indicate  de- 
finite opinions  and  instruction  must  be  interpreted  by 
the  doctrine  of  his  self- emptying,  or  by  the  principle  of 
accommodation  to  the  beliefs  or  the  modes  of  expression 
common  to  his  day.  Great  caution  must  be  observed  in 
ascertaining  what  Jesus  believed  and  taught,  but  he  is 
on  perilous  ground  who  adjourns  his  faith  in  any  teach- 
ing of  Jesus,  however  incidental,  to  the  results  of  even 
the  highest  scholarship.  The  disciples  of  Pythagoras 
confided  in  him  so  implicitly  that  to  quote  a  saying  of 
his  was  to  them  an  end  of  all  controversy.  ''Ipse  dixit — 
he  says  it, "  was  their  very  badge  of  discipleship.  * '  Ver- 
ily, I  say  unto  you,"  falHng  from  the  lips  of  Jesus, 
should  be  to  the  Christian  a  bar  to  all  further  discussion. 

Whatever  posture  Jesus  assumed  towards  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  loyalty  to  him  requires  should  be  ours.  What- 
ever he  believed  and  taught  regarding  the  providential 
movement  of  the  history  of  Israel,  and  the  origin  and 
character  and  veracity  and  inspiration  of  the  then  sacred 
books,  this  we  should  not  hesitate  to  accept,  though  all 
the  critics  and  scholars  of  the  world  should  be  arrayed 
against  us.     Ipse  dixit — he  said  it. 

We  do  well  to  read  again  words  long  ago  written  of 
Jesus : 

' '  Why  do  the  heathen  rage, 
And  the  people  imagine  a  vain  thing? 
The  kings  of  the  earth  set  themselves, 
And  the  rulers  take  counsel  together, 
Against  the  Lord,  and  against  his  Anointed,  saying, 


362  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

Let  us  break  their  bands  asunder, 

And  cast  away  their  cords  from  us. 

He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall  laugh. 

Yet  have  I  set  my  King 

Upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion." 

Let  me  hasten  to  add,  that  subjection  to  Jesus  is  the 
truest  freedom.  Some  may  be  tempted  to  think,  "Well, 
this  must  be  a  hard  Master,  the  claims  he  makes  are  so 
strenuous  and  extravagant ;  it  must  be  a  bitter  experi- 
ence to  be  in  his  service."  Far  from  it.  His  yoke  is 
easy  and  his  burden  is  light ;  and  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  makes  free  is  the  broadest  and  happiest.  See 
what  subjection  to  him  does  for  men.  He  takes  a  few 
fishermen  and  publicans,  slaves  to  ignorance  and  preju- 
dice, and  by  their  obedience  to  him  he  lifts  them  to  a 
place  among  the  leaders  of  human  thought  for  all  ages, 
and  sets  them  as  shining  examples  for  all  time.  Saul, 
the  narrow-minded  and  bigoted  Pharisee,  becomes  the 
' '  bond-servant  of  Jesus  Christ, ' '  and  is  thereby  trans- 
formed into  the  most  illustrious  exponent  and  champion 
of  freedom  of  thought  the  world  has  seen.  His  unfettered 
intellect  expands  under  the  great  ideas  of  Jesus,  and  his 
mind  gives  birth  to  *  *  thoughts  sublime  that  pierce  the 
night  like  stars."  It  is  the  thought  of  Paul  that  has 
brought  freedom  to  the  world.  He  is  the  universal 
thinker ;  for  depth  and  reach  and  influence  on  men  and 
institutions  no  philosopher  or  statesman  compares  with 
him. 

But  what  is  the  effect  upon  character  ?  Is  not  submis- 
sion to  the  will  of  another  deadly  to  aspiration  and 
growth  and  true  virtue  ?  To  be  subject  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  is  to  win  the  beauty  of  holiness.  Fishermen  and 
publicans,  under  this  influence,  become  the  saintliest 
spirits  of  mankind.  A  Saul  becomes  a  Paul.  It  was 
Paul's  delight  to  think  the  thoughts  of  Jesus  Christ  after 


JESUS'   SUPREME  AUTHORITY.  363 

him ;  to  guide  liis  conscience  by  the  judgments  of  Jesus ; 
to  pour  upon  him  his  great  heart's  wealth  of  affection; 
and  to  bow  his  imperial  will  to  the  will  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  The  traces  of  suffering  upon  his  body  he  counted 
as  brands  by  which  Jesus  Christ  had  marked  him  as  his 
own.  Yet  where  shall  we  look  upon  a  character  so  splen- 
did ?  Under  the  benign  influence  of  the  lordship  of  Christ 
every  Christian  grace  ripened  to  a  surpassing  beauty. 
For  perfection  of  character,  only  one  name  do  we  write 
above  the  name  of  Paul — the  name  that  is  above  every 
name. 

Loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ  is  the  need  of  the  hour.  For 
intellectual  rest,  for  peace  of  heart,  for  guidance  in  duty, 
for  enrichment  of  character,  for  motive  and  inspiration 
in  the  service  of  man,  for  bringing  in  the  kingdom  of 
God,  the  Christian  must,  with  emphasis  and  deep  devo- 
tion, salute  Jesus  as  his  Master  and  Lord. 

Before  the  toiling,  sinning,  suffering  men  of  our^^day 
stands  Jesus,  as  of  old,  and  in  the  tenderness  of  love  he 
invites  them  to  the  rest  and  peace  of  bearing  his  yoke. 

' '  Oh !  may  our  willing  hearts  confess 
Thy  sweet,  thy  gentle  sway ; 
Glad  captives  of  thy  matchless  grace, 
Thy  righteous  rule  obey !  " 


TRUST  IN  THE  LORD. 

BY    REV.   JOSEPH    R.    WILSON,    D.    D. 


"  It  is  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord  than  to  put  confidence  in  man. 
It  is  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord  than  to  put  confidence  in  princes." 
— Psalm  cxviii.  8,  9. 

IT  is  not  meant  that  no  man  at  all  is  to  be  at  all  trusted, 
that  everybody  is  unworthy  of  confidence  on  the  part 
of  anybody,  for  such  is  not  the  truth.  Men  do,  and 
ought  to,  have  confidence  in  one  another,  not  only,  but 
must  have,  or  society  itself  would  fall  to  pieces,  and  each 
person  (if  he  could  think  life  to  be  worth  having  on  such 
terms)  would  be  compelled  to  live  fenced  around  by 
walls  of  gloom  resembling  those  of  a  grave.  This  earth 
would  be  an  absolutely  intolerable  abode  were  there 
no  play  of  mutual  confidence.  No  doubt  there  are  per- 
sons here  and  there  who  know  little  or  nothing  of  the 
experience  of  a  confiding  disposition — who  go  through 
their  ice-clad  lives,  from  one  frozen  day  to  another, 
without  finding,  or  caring  to  find,  a  single  human  being 
on  whom  to  lean,  self-poised  and  self-sufficing,  who 
long  for  no  friendship  and  yearn  for  no  love.  Why,  even 
the  wild  animals  must  have  their  co-helpers  and  their 
alliances  of  mutual  trust.  The  lion  seldom  hunts  alone ; 
the  tiger  is  most  defiant  of  danger  when  he  has  a  com- 
panion near.  It  would  seem  that  where  there  is  intelli- 
gence, to  a?iy  degree,  whether  in  man  or  beast,  there 
also  is  a  feeling  of  dependence,  and  in  this  feeling  is 
imbedded  the  principle  of  confidence.  It  is  only  the 
insane  who  wish  to  be  always  by  themselves. 

364 


^ 


TRUST  IN  THE  LORD.  365 

Far  from  God,  therefore,  we  must  conclude,  is  the  pur- 
pose to  forbid  the  trust  which  one  person  places  in 
another,  and  which  he  cannot  but  place  so  long  as  he 
retains  his  sanity,  or  so  long  as  he  remains  true  to  the 
very  make-up  of  his  being.  This  natural  interchanging 
of  trust  is  in  obedience  to  one  of  his  own  laws,  a  law 
impressed  as  deeply  upon  our  individual  and  social  man-, 
hood  as  is  the  law  of  gravitation  upon  the  material  uni- 
verse. The  great  Lord  simply  tells  us  that  it  is  ' *  better'' 
to  trust  in  him  than  in  men,  or  in  the  princes  of  men; 
not  that  it  is  a  bad  and  a  wrong  thing — our  mutual  con- 
fidence— no,  it  is  a  good  and  a  right  thing ;  but  there  is 
that  which,  in  the  comparison,  is  ''better.''  He  would 
not  have  us  to  cease  trusting  whatsoever  creature  desey  ves 
to  be  trusted,  but  would  have  us  not  to  stop  in  this,  as  if 
thus  we  had  reached  the  highest  point  to  which  we  are 
capable  of  climbing  in  the  same  direction,  and  which  we 
all  are  bound  to  reach  if  we  would  trust  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  the  nature  God  has  given  us,  and  unto  the 
finest  and  noblest  results. 

The  truth  is,  that,  in  yielding  to  the  promptings  of  our 
implanted  principle  of  trust,  we  are  apt  to  go  too  far. 
We  are  apt  to  trust  each  other,  not  too  little,  but  too 
much ;  i.  e.,  we  are  prone  to  expect  too  great  a  beriefit 
from  the  trust  that  terminates  upon  the  mere  creature. 
That  benefit  is,  indeed,  considerable — often  a  very  large 
source  out  of  which  a  heartfelt  gratitude  should  songfully 
spring;  it  may,  however,  be  easily  overestimated ;  for, 
always — yes,  always — there  is  an  element  of  disappoint- 
ment in  the  most  rewardful  confidence  that  one  human  be- 
ing ever  placed  in  another — something  being  still  lacking 
to  render  the  satisfaction  complete.  In  other  words,  no 
person  can  ever  do  for  another  person  all  that  is  wanted. 
Take  even  that  instance  of  trust  which  is,  perhaps,  the 


366  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

purest,  and  the  fullest  of  heart-ease,  the  instinctive  trust 
of  a  little  child  in  its  mother.  However  trustful  the 
trusting  child,  and  however  deserving  of  it  the  trusted 
parent,  there  is  many  an  ache  of  this  child's  affections 
which  lies  beyond  the  most  soothing  touch  of  the  most 
sympathizing  mother ;  achings  which  it  is  compelled  to 
sob  out  upon  its  lonely  pillow  in  tears  which  can  give 
no  account  of  themselves  to  the  very  fondest  of  maternal 
coaxing — tears  w^iich  thereby  declare  their  need  of  a 
hand  to  dry  them  up  which  the  whole  world  does  not 
extend  any  one,  the  hand  that  tells  of  his  presence  whose 
love  is  beyond  a  mother's,  and  ''better''  than  hers. 

And  it  is  just  the  same  around  the  entire  circle  of  hu- 
man trust  where  it  touches  alone  upon  a  human  object. 
It  is  a  trust  that  is  always  a  more  or  less  defeated  trust ; 
is  thrown  back  upon  itself,  having,  at  this  point  or  at 
that,  missed  its  mark. 

There  are,  indeed,  many  matters  in  which  men  do  not 
vainly  trust  each  other,  the  trusters  getting  all  they  ex- 
pected from  the  trusted.  You  may  trust  a  neighbor  with 
portions  of  your  property  and  find  him  true  to  your  con- 
fidence. You  may  safely  trust  him  not  to  lie  when  you 
are  in  want  of  his  testimony.  In  a  hundred  supposable 
cases  you  can  securely  trust ;  can  even  sometimes  go  so 
far  as  to  trust  another  to  play  with  your  very  heart- 
strings, as  is  done  every  day  where  love  exchanges  itself 
for  corresponding  love,  or  for  the  promise  of  it ;  and  yet 
you  may,  in  all  this,  not  have  to  regret  what  you  have  done. 
But  your  trust  will  be  disappointed  if  you  expect  to  get 
from  man — be  he  ever  so  faithful,  be  he  ever  so  honor- 
able, be  he  ever  so  eminent  for  trustworthiness,  be  he 
ever  so  large  in  resources — all  that  your  soul  desires. 
You,  perhaps,  get  the  whole  which  that  man  is  able  to 
give ;  but  there  are  some  things  which  he  cannot  give, 


TRUST  IN  THE   LORD.  367 

however  loudly,  however  honestly  even,  he  may  promise 
them.  He  is  not  competent,  for  example,  to  give  you 
happiness — not  even  that  amount  of  happiness  you  have 
thought  that  he  was  in  a  condition  to  bestow,  and  which 
he  himself  beUeved  that  he  was.  Wives  and  husbands, 
to  take  an  extreme  instance,  trust  each  other  for  happi- 
ness, as  they  ought  to  do,  thinking  that  they  have  only 
to  draw  upon  the  rich  treasures  of  their  mutual  affection 
for  as  much  as  they  can  want.  Well,  do  they  always 
get  it?  Is  there  not  a  drawback,  sometimes  nameless, 
yet  real  and  felt?  Is  there  not  often  an  ache  like  that  of 
the  child,  which  no  quantity  or  quality  of  human  love, 
even  the  most  assiduous  and  most  self-sacrificing,  can 
soothe — an  ache  which  belongs  to  the  soul's  own  inde- 
pendent and  unapproachable  individuality,  and  which,  ac- 
cordingly, it  must  just  learn  to  endure,  unless,  indeed,  it 
is  at  liberty  to  resort  to  a  far  higher  and  far  choicer  foun- 
tain of  good  than  any  that  is  filled  from  an  ealrthly  source  ? 
Or  take  the  instance  of  one  who  trusts  another  in  a 
partnership  whose  object  is  to  acquire  wealth,  and  at  the 
same  time  cement  a  friendship  which  has  already  stood 
the  test  of  years.  This  chosen  partner  is  all  right;  he 
discharges  his  whole  duty;  his  undivided  talent,  is  de- 
voted to  the  business ;  there  is  nothing  about  him  which 
is  not  completely  satisfying.  The  result  is,  ever-increas- 
ing riches.  And  yet,  somehow,  you  are  now  and  again 
forced  to  feel  that  he  has  not  done  all  that  you  had  ex- 
pected of  him.  You  have  his  utmost  help,  and  still  his 
help  has  not  conferred  happiness,  even  though  it  has 
brought  wealth.  You  do  not  blame  him  ;  you  are  even 
sure  that  he  is  not  at  fault ;  nay,  you  are  certain  that  the 
greater  share  of  your  success  is  what  he  has  achieved. 
So  far  you  have  not  trusted  in  vain ;  but,  then,  you 
trusted  him  for  something  more^  which  it  was  not  in  his 


368  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT.  * 

power  to  bestow  with  all  his  other  bestowments ;  you 
trusted  that  in  his  many  helpings  towards  accumulations 
of  property  he  would  also  add  to  it  more  and  more  peace 
of  mind,  or  that  both  of  you  together  would  do  this,  for 
in  this  respect  you  trusted  not  only  his  capability,  but 
also  your  own;  and  he  has  not  disappointed  you  any 
more  than  you  have  disappointed  yourself  or  disap- 
pointed him.  The  gold  is  there,  but  not  the  good  you 
had  thought  w^as  in  it.  There  is  still  a  void  unfilled. 
The  partnership  has  proved  a  failure  on  the  highest 
ground  of  all — the  ground  w^here  contentment  ought  to 
be  awaiting  your  summons.  No  neighbor  is  richer  than 
you  in  merchandise  and  money,  but  many  a  neighbor 
may  not  be  so  poor  in  the  matter  of  that  true  treasure, 
heart- sunshine,  the  one  only  thing  that  was  worth  your 
partner's  trouble  and  your  own  to  gain  and  to  lay  up. 

So  the  ambitious  man  trusts  to  the  people  to  lift  him 
into  eminence  of  position.  They  raise  him  as  high  as  he 
wished,  higher  even  than  once  he  had  dreamed.  They 
lavish  upon  him  their  honors  and  their  stations.  They 
place  him  at  the  very  top.  He  is  grateful ;  but,  as  he 
quaffs  the  bowl  of  their  laudations,  he  by-and-by  becomes 
conscious  of  a  want  that  he  had  fondly  hoped  would  also 
be  met  in  the  wine-taste  of  his  gratified  desires.  Eleva- 
tion has  not  made  him  happy ;  it  has  only  made  him  cold 
and  lonely,  and  envied — maybe  hated — by  some.  The 
people  had  not  that  to  give  which  comes  exclusively 
from  a  satisfied  mind,  a  mind  restful,  as  on  a  rock  of  se- 
curity; and,  this  being  absent,  all  the  rest  resembles 
ashes.  He  evidently  needs  to  go  to  a  source  of  power 
higher  still.  People  and  princes  can  confer  many  favors 
upon  those  whom  they  greatly  regard,  and  w^ho  know 
how  to  trust  or  to  court  them ;  but  they  cannot  confer 
that  smile  which  lights  up  the  living-room  of  the  soul, 


TRUST  IN  THE  LORD.  369 

where  the  man  is  at  home  with  his  own  thoughts,  and 
where  he  holds  converse  with  his  immortality;  and  if 
that  room  remains  dark,  no  lamps  burning  in  any  or  in 
all  of  the  other  rooms  can  sufl&ce  to  illumine  the  great 
house. 

In  what  has  thus  been  suggested,  I  have  referred  you 
alone  to  the  fact  that,  for  many  of  the  things  which  are 
considered  desirable,  you  have  good  reason  to  trust  your 
fellow-man.  Shall  I  now,  however,  turn  the  picture, 
and  refer  you  to  another  and  quite  opposite  fact,  the  fact 
that  your  fellow-man  often  deceives  you,  even  when  you 
trust  him  for  such  common  assistances  and  even  for  such 
mere  courtesies  as  every  one  needs  from  those  with  whom 
he  mingles?  In  how  many  of  your  acquaintances,  in 
how  many  of  your  so  called  friends,  may  you  confidently 
trust  when  you  are  in  actual  want  either  of  their  sym- 
pathy or  of  their  helping  hand  ?  How  long  would  it  take 
you  to  count  the  number  of  such  as  seem  trustworthy 
when  all  is  prospering  with  you,  but  the  shallowness  of 
whose  assurances  of  good-will  is  discovered  when  a 
' '  friend  in  need  would  be  a  friend  indeed  ' '  ?  Let  the 
broken  and  scattered  hopes  of  a  too-confiding  inexperience, 
the  world  over,  answer  the  mournful  question.  I  am  not 
disposed  to  view  with  a  gloomy  eye  the  world  about  me, 
nor  should  any  of  you  be  so  disposed.  It  becomes  us 
all,  on  the  contrary,  to  look  with  as  cheerful  an  aspect  as 
possible  upon  the  characters  and  conduct  of  the  members 
of  the  common  family  to  which  we  all  belong,  to  the 
very  meanest  member  of  which  we  are  all  related  by  a 
blood  which  is  as  old  as  the  creation,  and  multitudes  of 
whom  are  far  better  than  ourselves.  But,  it  cannot  be 
denied,  even  by  one  who  gives  the  utmost  possible  credit 
to  the  fair  intentions  and  the  fine  words  of  his  brother- 
sinners,  that  their  promises  are  often  larger  than  their 
24 


370  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

performances,  and  that  the  man  who  acts  upon  a  con- 
trary belief  must  at  some  critical  hours  of  his  Ufe  pay 
the  penalty  of  his  faith  in  not  a  few  grievous  disap- 
pointments. In  truth,  is  not  the  whole  earth  a  scene, 
throughout,  of  the  war  which  men  are  waging  with 
men  because  of  the  ill-starred  trusts  they  mistakenly 
place  in  each  other?  How  largely,  how  variously,  how 
distressfully  could  this  be  illustrated,  were  the  unplea- 
sant task  a  necessary  one !  Yoiir  courts  of  justice  are 
full  of  the  evidences  of  the  fact.  Every  person  knows 
it  in  many  a  bitter  experience,  or  may  too  easily  learn 
the  sad  lesson  from  what  others  are  able  to  tell  him  of 
their  experience.  On  every  account,  therefore,  is  it  not 
' '  better ' '  to  trust  in  the  Lord  than  to  trust  in  any  man  ? 
and  for  the  reasons  I  have  given :  no  such  earthly  trust 
brings  a  steadfast  happiness,  and  such  happiness  is  what 
we  all  are  pursuing — rightly  pursuing,  too.  Only,  let 
us  learn  what  true  happiness  is,  in  what  it  consists,  and 
we  are  at  full  liberty  to  secure  it  if  we  can,  God  himself 
being  the  approving  witness  of  our  efforts.  But  now 
the  question  arises,  even  on  the  part  of  those  who  think 
they  do  know  what  happiness  is,  does  God  make  happy 
those  who  trust  in  him?  I  confess  that  it  does  not 
always  look  as  if  he  did.  It  must  be  acknowledged  that 
he  leaves  many  of  his  trusters  poor  and  forlorn,  tossed 
and  torn  ;  and  that  there  is  not  one  of  them,  however 
favored  in  a  worldly  point  of  view,  who  does  not  have 
reason,  daily,  to  shed  tears  of  more  or  less  racking  grief, 
or  utter  groans  of  more  or  less  remorseful  sorrow.  You 
cannot  listen  to  their  public  prayers  or  their  private  peti- 
tionings  without  feeling  convinced  that  they  have  that  to 
cause  them  unhappiness  of  which  even  the  trusters  in 
man  know  nothing,  and  at  which  they  sometimes  are 
constrained  to  wonder.     How,  then,  can  it  be  said  that 


TRUST  IN  THE  LORD.  37I 

it  is  ** better"  to  trust  in  the  Lord?  Well,  were  there 
no  other  answer  to  such  a  question,  might  we  not  wisely 
rest  the  whole  matter  on  this :  He  has  said  so,  and  does 
he  not  know  f  Is  not  the  entire  history  of  our  race  open  to 
his  view  as  it  cannot  be  to  our  own  ?  and  has  he  not  seen 
the  long  result  of  such  trusting  as  man  places  in  his 
fellow-man  when  there  was  also  no  higher  person  in  which 
he  confided  ?  Does  God  need  to  be  told  of  that  weak- 
ness in  man  which  causes  him,  even  in  his  best  estate, 
to  be  as  a  broken  reed  to  whomsoever,  with  his  whole 
weight,  leans  upon  him ;  does  he  need  to  be  told  of  one 
man's  treachery  to  another,  of  the  selfishness  which 
everywhere  reveals  itself  in  the  intercourse  of  life,  of  the 
meanness  which  gets  all  it  can  whilst  giving  only  as  little 
as  it  may,  of  the  inhumanity,  even,  which  pushes  de- 
pendence to  the  wall  when  it  would  trust  to  the  stronger 
but  dare  not?  And  is  not  God  so  far  acquainted  with 
what  he  himself  is  as  to  know  that  he  at  least  is  a  fit  ob- 
ject of  man's  trust,  being  so  full  of  mercy,  so  full  of 
might,  so  full  of  truth,  so  full  of  wisdom,  so  full  of 
tenderness  ?  We  may  well,  therefore,  take  his  word  for  it 
that  we  had  better  repose  our  trust  in  him  than  even  in 
the  princes  of  men,  who,  to  say  the  most,  are  as  frail  as 
others,  and  who,  to  say  the  least,  are  as  false. 

But,  then,  where  is  the  happiness  of  trusting  in  him?  is 
a  question  still  to  be  asked.  Why,  it  is  found  in  the  very 
act  of  our  trust  itself.  For  what  is  happiness  ?  It  is  not 
a  thing  which  you  can  see,  or  handle,  or  get  into  your 
embrace.  It  is  not  what  you  may  have,  it  is  what  you 
ARE .  You  do  not  need  to  go  one  step  out  of  yourself  for 
it.  Gold  does  not  contain  it.  Pleasures  do  not  conduct 
to  it.  Fortune-building  does  not  construct  it.  Industry 
does  not  collect  it.  It  is  a  possession  of  the  soul,  or, 
rather,  is  the  soul  possessing  itself.     It  is  a  principle 


372  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

and  a  power  within,  where  no  outward  circumstances 
can  intrude  to  place  a  destructive  hand  upon  it ;  a  hghted 
candle  at  the  centre  of  us,  which  no  wind  can  blow  out. 
It  is  being  what  we  ought  to  be,  right  with  ourselves  and 
right  with  our  God ;  a  rightness  that  shall  last,  therefore, 
so  long  as  the  soul  shall  last,  that  is,  so  long  as  God 
shall  last.  Out  of  such  rightness,  planted  as  it  is  in  our 
ver>'  immortality,  springs  happiness,  in  the  just  sense  of 
that  much-used  and  much-abused  word.  And  it  is  to 
bring  about  this  supreme  rightness  that  we  are  exhorted 
to  put  our  trust  in  the  Lord,  which  is  altogether  the 
same  as  exhorting  us  to  love  him  ;  for,  otherwise,  to  trust 
him  were  impossible,  love  being,  indeed,  only  another 
word  for  confidence.  It  may,  then,  be  said,  with  an  as- 
surance which  nothing  can  gainsay,  that  they  who  thus 
love  God  are  they  who  are  right,  in  the  very  deepest 
meaning  of  the  term ;  right  at  the  core  of  their  being ; 
right  as  the  saints  and  as  the  angels  are.  But,  whilst 
this  is  true,  it  is  also  true  that  his  children's  trustful 
love  is  not  yet  complete ;  and  it  is  because  of  their  strug- 
gles and  of  their  Father's  discipline  to  make  it  complete 
that  they  experience  most  of  the  sorrows  to  which  I  have 
referred ;  sorrows  which  are  themselves  more  to  be  de- 
sired than  the  raptures  of  the  world.  They  trust,  but  do 
not  trust  perfectly,  and  will  not  until  they  see  him  as  he 
is,  in  the  home  towards  which  they  climb.  In  thus  climb- 
ing, however,  they  needs  must  suffer,  for  the  hill  is  high, 
and  it  is  both  steep  and  rugged,  where  progress  is  as- 
sured only  at  the  expense  of  toil  and  trouble.  Neverthe- 
less, with  all  that  it  costs,  it  is  "better  to  trust  in  the 
Lord  than  to  put  confidence  in  man "  ;  for  so  great  a 
trust  must  have  a  correspondingly  great  issue;  so  su- 
preme a  trust  must  have  a  correspondingly  supreme  re- 
ward.    It  is  trusting  in  a  word  that  never  w^as  broken. 


TRUST  IN  THE  LORD.  373 

and  which  nothing  can  ever  break;  in  a  wisdom  that 
never  was  baffled,  and  which  nothing  can  ever  baffle ;  in 
a  watchfulness  that  never  has  been  thrown  off  its  guard, 
and  which  nothing  can  ever  throw  off  its  guard ;  in  a  will 
whose  decrees  of  good  have  ever  been,  and  must  always 
be,  sovereign ;  and  in  a  welfare  that  is  as  certain  as  eter- 
nity. It  is  trusting  in  him  who  has  proved  himself  the 
one  Friend  of  the  friendless,  the  one  Father  of  the  father- 
less, the  one  who  is  faithful  when  all  others  are  faithless. 
It  is  trusting  the  only  Being  who  can  destroy  for  us  our 
sins,  and  dry  up  for  us  our  sorrows,  and  bestow  upon 
us  a  salvation  compared  with  which  the  utmost  blessed- 
ness of  earth  is  as  a  dying  lamp  to  the  living  sun.  It  is 
trusting  for  peace  of  heart  whilst  living,  for  strength  of 
heart  when  expiring,  and  for  wealth  of  heart  when  the 
treasures  of  heaven  burst  upon  the  view.  It  is  trusting 
unto  holiness,  the  fountain  of  happiness.  It  is  trusting 
God,  as  God  is  in  Christ,  which  says  all  in  one  ex- 
haustless  word. 


NOT  ONE    FORGOTTEN. 

BY  REV.  T.   D.  WITHERSPOON,   D.   D., 

Professor  of  Ho7niletics  and  Pastoral  Theology,  Louisville 

Theological  Seminary. 


"Are  not  five  sparrows  sold  for  two  farthings,  and  not  one  of 
them  is  forgotten  before  God?" — LuKExii.  6. 

THE  thought  of  a  particular  providence,  minute  as 
to  its  details  and  special  as  to  its  ends,  embracing 
all  the  creatures  of  God,  however  lowly,  and  all 
their  actions,  however  insignificant,  linking  all  in  a  sin- 
gle chain  of  divine  prevision  and  control,  is  one  of  which 
men  have  never  been  able  altogether  to  divest  them- 
selves, but  to  which  they  have  been  strangely  reluctant 
to  give  full  and  hearty  assent. 

Of  the  causes  that  have  operated  to  produce  a  latent 
and  lingering  skepticism  in  reference  to  a  doctrine  so 
consonant  to  reason  and  so  comforting  to  the  servant  of 
God,  there  seem  to  be  two  particularly  deserving  of  at- 
tention. 

The  first  is  the  apparent  insignificance  of  this  world  of 
ours  when  considered  as  a  part  of  the  measureless  uni- 
verse of  God,  and  the  consequent  improbability  that, 
amidst  these  vast  myriads  of  worlds  with  their  teeming 
millions  of  inhabitants,  the  Almighty  Ruler  should  con- 
descend to  busy  himself  with  the  minute  relations  and 
infinitesimal  concerns  of  all  the  creatures  upon  the  earth. 

The  second  is  the  apparent  irregularity  in  the  opera- 
tion and  enforcement  of  the  moral  law  in  the  economy 
of  nature,  as  contrasted  with  the  invariable  sequence  of 

374 


•J•'^': 


■Ki!f:KKrf:>;fH-:f>i:'Kf:f.jf}^ 


:^li 


tiAxtrmeso 


A  "i  ^-  '-'t 


H:   4   A  4: 


NOT  ONE    FORGOTTEN.  375 

those  laws  that  are  purely  mechanical  and  physical;  a 
state  of  things  which  we  would  by  no  means  expect  if 
the  hand  of  the  great  moral  Ruler  is  in  all  the  events  of 
time. 

These  two  causes  have  operated  in  all  ages  to  produce 
skepticism  in  reference  to  the  overruling  providence  of 
God.  Thus  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  patriarch  Job. 
''Behold,"  says  Eliphaz  the  Temanite  (Job  xxii.  12), 
"is  not  God  in  the  height  of  heaven?  and  behold  the 
height  of  the  stars,  how  high  they  are !  And  thou  say- 
est,  How  doth  God  know?  Can  he  judge  through  the 
dark  cloud?  Thick  clouds  are  a  covering  to  him,  that 
he  seeth  not;  and  he  walketh  in  the  circuit  of  heaven." 
And  so,  as  to  the  second  cause.  Job  says  (chapter  xxi.  7, 
etc.),  ''Wherefore  do  the  wicked  live,  become  old,  yea, 
are  mighty  in  power?  Their  seed  is  established  in  their 
sight  with  them,  and  their  offspring  before  their  eyes. 
Their  houses  are  safe  from  fear,  neither  is  the  rod  of 

God  upon  them One  dieth  in  his  full  strength, 

being  wholly  at  ease  and  quiet.  .  .  .  And  another  dieth 
in  the  bitterness  of  his  soul,  and  never  eateth  with  pleas- 
ure. They  shall  lie  down  alike  in  the  dust,  and  the 
worms  shall  cover  them." 

And  so,  to  make  one  further  quotation,  we  have  the 
same  protest  in  the  days  of  Solomon  against  the  doctrine 
of  a  particular  providence,  the  ground  of  protest  being 
the  chequered  nature  of  human  life,  and  the  apparent  in- 
equality in  the  distribution  of  punishments  and  rewards. 
"All  things"  (Eccl.  ix.  2)  "come  alike  to  all :  there  is 
one  event  to  the  righteous  and  to  the  wicked;  to  the 
good  and  to  the  clean  and  to  the  unclean ;  to  him  that 
sacrificeth  and  to  him  that  sacrificeth  not;  as  is  the 
good,  so  is  the  sinner;  and  he  that  sweareth  as  he  that 
feareth  an  oath. ' ' 


376  SOUTHERN   PRESBYTERIAN    PULPIT. 

Nor  have  these  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  firm  faith 
in  God's  overruling  providence  at  all  diminished  since 
the  days  of  Job  and  of  Solomon.  On  the  contrary,  as 
science  has  pressed  her  investigations  and  has  extended 
her  domain,  we  have  gained  conceptions  of  the  magni- 
tude of  the  universe  and  the  comparative  insignificance 
of  our  globe  to  which  the  men  of  Solomon's  time  were 
utter  strangers.  So,  too,  as  the  ages  have  advanced,  the 
evil  principles  of  the  world  have  more  and  more  devel- 
oped in  antagonism  to  the  good.  They  have  aggregated 
to  themselves  more  and  more  power.  Their  votaries 
have  become  more  and  more  skillful  in  the  oppression  of 
the  right.  In  this  day  of  vast  moneyed  corporations  and 
consolidations  of  capital  and  labor,  it  is  even  more  true 
than  in  former  times,  that  * '  these  are  the  ungodly  that 
prosper  in  the  world, ' '  and  that  *  *  no  man  knoweth  either 
love  or  hatred  by  all  that  is  before  him." 

But,  amidst  all  the  confusion  and  disorder  incident  to 
a  state  of  things  like  this,  it  is  the  great  joy  of  the 
Christian  heart  to  rest  in  the  doctrine  of  the  overruling 
providence  of  God,  which  is  so  clearly  taught  in  his  holy 
word;  to  think  of  the  little  sparrows,  five  of  which 
brought  less  than  a  cent  in  the  markets  of  the  world  in 
our  Lord's  day,  and  to  remember  that  "not  one  of  them 
is  forgotten  before  God. ' ' 

Let  us,  then,  as  we  look  out  upon  the  unknown  fu- 
ture— many  of  us  with  thoughtful  solicitude  ;  some  of  us, 
it  may  be,  with  anxious  forebodings — bathe  our  spirits 
for  a  little  while  in  the  sweet  thought  of  the  text,  * '  not 
one  of  them  is  forgotten  before  God." 

I.  And  first  let  me  say  that  this  is  the  view  of  the 
providence  of  God  presented  all  through  the  Scriptures ; 
not  simply  that  of  a  general  superintendence  under  vague 
and  indefinite  laws  of  nature,  but  a  minute  and  detailed 


NOT  ONE  FORGOTTEN.  377 

personal  supervision,  a  particular  and  definite  personal 
control,  extending  to  the  least  as  well  as  to  the  greatest 
works  of  his  hand.  Many  persons  are  willing  to  admit 
that  the  hand  of  God  is  in  the  great  events  of  nature  and 
of  human  history.  When  the  pestilence  is  on  the  air 
and  thousands  are  falling  victims,  when  some  great 
earthquake  has  engulphed  cities,  or  some  furious  tempest 
at  sea  has  carried  down  strong  ships  with  their  hardy 
seamen  and  their  terror-stricken  passengers,  there  are 
few  who  believe  in  a  God  at  all  who  do  not  recognize 
his  hand,  and  say,  ' '  Surely  God  is  here. ' '  But  that  the 
God  who  kindled  the  blaze  of  the  sun  supplies  also  the 
glow-worm's  lamp ;  that  he  who  '  *  rides  upon  the  stormy 
wind ' '  fans  also  the  cheek  of  the  invalid  with  the  gen- 
tle zephyr's  breath;  that  he  who  upholds  the  stars  in 
their  courses  guides  also  the  sparrow  in  its  flight;  these 
are  the  things  reckoned  incapable  of  belief.  And  yet 
the  Scriptures  do  not  more  clearly  teach  the  one  than 
the  other.  Its  language  on  this  point  cannot  be  mis- 
taken. Turn  to  whatever  part  you  will,  and  you  will 
find  this  truth  everywhere  expressed,  believed,  acted 
upon,  that  the  hand  of  God  is  as  truly  in  the  least  as  in 
the  greatest;  nothing  so  obscure  as  to  escape  his  notice, 
nothing  so  trivial  as  to  lie  outside  the  schemes  of  his 
providence^  and  the  purposes  of  his  will. 

Let  us  hear  the  testimony  of  Elihu  (Job  xxxvi.  27, 
etc.)  :  ' '  He  maketh  small  the  drops  of  water :  which  the 
clouds  do  drop  upon  man  abundantly. "  "  With  clouds 
he  covereth  the  light ;  and  commandeth  it  not  to  shine. ' ' 
"God  thundereth  marvelously  with  his  voice."  "He 
saith  to  the  snow.  Be  thou  on  the  earth  ;  likewise  to  the 
small  rain,  and  to  the  great  rain  of  his  strength. "  "By 
the  breath  of  God  frost  is  given  ;  and  the  breadth  of  the 
waters  is  straitened. "      "  He  scattereth  his  bright  cloud, 


378  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

and  it  is  turned  round  about  by  his  counsels,  that  they 
may  do  whatsoev^er  he  commandeth."  He  causeth  "it 
to  rain  on  the  earth  where  no  man  is,  to  satisfy  the  deso- 
late and  waste  ground  ;  and  to  cause  the  bud  of  the 
tender  herb  to  spring  forth."  He  "  sendeth  lightnings, 
that  they  may  go  and  say  unto  him,  Here  we  are." 
He  "stayeth  the  bottles  of  the  heaven  when  the  dust 
groweth  into  hardness  and  the  clods  cleave  fast  together. ' ' 
He  "hunteth  the  prey  for  the  lion,  and  provideth  for  the 
raven  his  food." 

Let  us  hear  what  the  Psalmisl  says  (Psalm  Ixv.  9,  etc.): 
"Thou  visitest  the  earth,  and  waterest  it:  thou  greatly 
enrichest  it,"  etc.  Psalm  civ.  14,  etc.:  "He  causeth 
the  grass  t-o  grow  for  the  cattle,  and  herb  for  the  service 
of  man."  "Thou  makest  darkness,  and  it  is  night: 
wherein  all  the  beasts  of  the  forest  do  creep  forth.  The 
young  lions  roar  after  their  prey,  and  seek  their  meat 
from  God. "  "  These  wait  all  upon  thee. "  "  That  thou 
givest  them  they  gather :  thou  openest  thine  hand,  they 
are  filled  with  good. ' '  But  why  multiply  passages.  The 
Old  Testament  is  filled  with  these  statements  of  the  uni- 
versality and  the  minuteness  of  the  providence  of  God. 

Let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  the  declarations  of  our 
Lord:  "Behold"  (Matt.  vi.  26,  etc.)  "the  fowls  of  the 
air :  for  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into 
barns,  yet  your  heavenly  Father  feedeth  them. "  "  Con- 
sider the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow;  they  toil 
not,  neither  do  they  spin  :  and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  That 
even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like 
one  of  these.  Wherefore,  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of 
the  field,  which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the 
oven,  shall  he  not  much  more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little 
faith?  ' '  And  so  in  the  passage  before  us  :  ' 'Are  not  five 
sparrows  sold  for  two  farthings,  and  not  one  of  them  is 


NOT  ONE  FORGOTTEN.  379 

forgotten  before  God."  Or,  as  Matthew  has  it,  **One 
of  them  shall  not  fall  on  the  ground  without  your  Father ; 
for  even  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered." 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  if  the  plain  meaning  of  these 
passages  be  taken,  we  must  believe  that  the  providence 
of  God  is  in  the  little  things  as  well  as  in  the  great. 
And  when  we  consider  how  precious  and  comforting 
such  a  doctrine  is,  does  it  not  seem  strange  that  men 
should  endeavor  to  persuade  themselves  to  believe  that 
when  our  Saviour  says,  "  not  one  of  them  is  forgotten 
before  God,"  he  really  does  not  mean  it?  and  that  when 
he  says,  *'the  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered,"  he 
is  speaking  in  hyperbole? 

II.  But  this  skepticism  in  reference  to  the  minuteness 
of  God's  providence  rests  upon  two  assumptions,  each 
of  which  is  altogether  untenable.  The  first  is,  that 
objects  and  events  sustain  to  each  other  in  the  mind  of 
God  the  same  relative  dignity  and  importance  that  they 
do  in  ours  ;  so  that  what  are  great  and  important  in  our 
eyes  are  so  in  his,  and  what  are  puny  and  insignificant 
in  our  view  are  so  in  the  view  of  God.  We  are  prone  to 
forget  that  nothing  finite  can  in  itself  appear  great  or 
important  in  the  sight  of  God.  There  is  such  an  infinite 
disproportion  in  the  scale  on  which  his  being  is  projected 
and  that  which  appertains  to  all  created  things,  that  the 
distinctions  of  great  and  small  do  not  apply.  As  one 
who  climbs  some  lofty  mountain  and  looks  down  on  the 
plain  beneath  sees  not  the  inequalities  of  the  surface, 
but  looks  upon  it  as  upon  a  map  with  even  face  lying 
before  him,  so  from  the  height  of  God's  infinite  perfec- 
tion he  looks  down  and  there  is  nothing  in  itself  great  in 
his  sight.  All  things  take  their  relative  magnitude  and 
importance  from  their  relations  to  him,  to  the  fulfilment 
of  his  purposes,  and  the  manifestation  of  his  glory.     The 


380  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

things,  therefore,  which  seem  least  to  us  may  seem 
greatest  to  him.  There  is  an  element  of  power  that 
enters  into  our  conception  of  the  sublime,  so  that  things 
are  grand  and  impressive  in  our  view  as  they  reveal  a 
power  that  overawes  us  by  its  superiority  to  our  own. 
The  roar  of  Niagara,  the  thunder  of  the  ocean  in  a  storm, 
the  wild  sweep  of  the  tornado,  and  the  sullen  moan  of 
the  earthquake,  seem  great  to  us  by  comparison  with 
our  own  impotency,  but  they  are  not  so  to  God.  The 
overthrow  of  a  kingdom,  the  crumbling  of  a  throne,  the 
conflagration  of  a  world,  are,  in  his  view  and  in  com- 
parison with  his  power,  but  as  the  falling  of  a  leaf  or  the 
withering  of  the  grass  under  the  summer's  sun. 

The  second  false  assumption  is,  that  there  may  be 
such  dissociation  of  the  great  things  and  the  small  things 
that  the  former  may  be  directed  and  controlled  without 
attention  to  the  latter.  No  great  event  has  ever  yet  oc- 
curred to  which  a  number  of  minute  and  apparently  in- 
significant events  have  not  stood  in  such  relation  of  cause 
and  condition  that  the  great  event  could  only  be  brought 
about  by  close  attention  to  these  apparently  trivial  ones. 
The  little  things  are  the  pivots  upon  which  the  great 
ones  turn.  As  the  whole  machinery  of  a  watch  will 
come  to  a  standstill  if  one  of  the  almost-invisible  jewels 
be  dislodged,  or  if  a  grain  of  dust  adhere  to  one  of  the 
thousand  tiny  cogs  in  its  various  attachments,  so,  if  one 
of  these  minute  events  should  go  awry,  the  whole  order 
and  course  of  providence  w^ould  be  arrested  or  disturbed. 
I  stood,  not  a  great  while  ago,  looking  at  a  splendid 
locomotive  about  to  be  put  upon  its  trial-trip.  The  en- 
gineer, proud  of  his  beautiful  engine,  at  a  signal  from 
the  conductor,  placed  his  hand  upon  the  lever  and  ap- 
plied the  steam.  But,  though  there  was  a  quiver,  as  if 
every  nerve  of  the  iron  horse  w^ere  strung  to  its  utmost 


NOT  ONE   FORGOTTEN.  381 

tension,  there  was  no  motion  of  the  great  wheels.  A 
second  time  the  lever  was  applied,  but  with  the  same 
result.  Then  the  quick  eye  of  the  engineer  detected  the 
cause.  A  single  thumb-screw  had  been  insufficiently 
turned.  There  was  but  the  light  touch  of  the  fingers 
upon  it,  and  again  the  steam  was  applied,  and  the  train 
moved  gracefully  away.  These  little  things  which  men 
think  beneath  our  heavenly  Father's  notice,  what  are 
they  but  the  valve-screws  of  the  great  engine  ?  What 
but  the  cogs  and  jewels  of  that  secret  mechanism  which 
causes  the  hands  of  all  human  destiny  to  move  upon  the 
dial-plate  of  time  ? 

But  it  is  time  to  assume  that  of  which  I  am  happily 
persuaded,  namely,  that  whatever  others  may  think  of 
the  doctrine  of  a  particular  providence,  you,  to  whom  I 
am  now  speaking,  find  delight  in  its  belief,  and  will  not 
have  it  wrested  from  you  by  all  the  specious  arguments 
and  haughty  cavils  which  its  enemies  may  employ.  Let 
me,  then,  as  we  look  forward  to-day  to  the  life  that  lies 
before  us,  as  we  seek  to  gird  ourselves  for  its  duties  and 
responsibilities,  as  we  take  each  his  staff  in  his  hand  and 
go  forth  to  its  unknown  vicissitudes  and  trials,  draw  for 
you  some  practical  lessons  of  instruction  and  comfort 
from  the  words  of  the  text,  ' '  not  one  of  them  is  forgot- 
ten before  God." 

And,  jirst,  let  me  remind  you  what  a  sanctity  it  gives 
to  the  little  things  of  life  that  God's  eye  is  upon  them, 
and  that  we  can  have  fellowship  with  him  in  them.  So 
much  of  our  Hfe  is  taken  up  with  Httle  things — things 
that  do  not  seem  to  tell  upon  the  great  issues  and  inter- 
ests of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the  world — that  we  are  likely 
to  feel  as  if  the  time  spent  in  them  is  lost  from  the  service 
of  God.  The  mother  with  her  little  brood  about  her,  the 
housewife  with  her  busy  cares,  the  merchant  with  all 


382  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN   PULPIT. 

the  inventory  of  his  active  brain,  the  teacher  with  the 
tedious  routine  of  the  class-room — one  and  all  with  the 
daily  throng  of  little  duties,  little  vexations,  little  cares — 
let  us  remember  that  not  one  of  all  these  is  forgotten  be- 
fore God.  There  is  a  sanctity  and  a  blessedness  given 
to  life  when  we  can  see  God's  hand  in  everything — in 
leaf  and  flower,  in  pebble  and  stone — and  the  dull  mono- 
tony of  the  most  humdrum  life  may  be  relieved  by  this 
thought  of  the  ever-presence  and  sympathy  of  our  heav- 
enly Father. 

Again,  let  me  remind  you  that  if  not  one  of  the  least 
of  these  dumb  creatures  is  forgotten  before  God,  they 
should  not  fail  of  all  due  consideration  and  kindness  from 
us.  How  much  wanton  cruelty,  how  much  thoughtless 
neglect  would  be  avoided,  did  we  always  keep  before 
us  the  consideration  that  "not  one  of  them  is  forgot- 
ten before  God."  How  this  thought  of  our  heavenly 
Father's  watchful  oversight  and  tender  care  binds  us,  as 
with  a  band  of  gold,  not  only  to  the  humblest  and 
poorest  of  our  kind,  but  to  all  that  vaster  family  whom 
his  loving  arms  enfold,  and  who  rest  upon  the  bosom  of 
his  care. 

Thirdly,  and  lastly,  while  we  know  not  what  the 
changes  or  trials  of  coming  life  may  be,  there  is  one 
thing  we  do  know,  and  that  is,  that  not  one  of  us  in  any 
of  them  shall  be  forgotten.  However  dark  the  pathway, 
God's  eye  will  be  upon  us  as  we  walk  it ;  his  infinite 
arm  will  be  about  us  to  protect  us ;  his  wing  of  love  will 
overshadow  us,  and  he  will  make  good  to  us  his  precious 
promise,  that  "as  our  days  so  shall  our  strength  be." 
And  if  at  this  hour  there  be  in  the  sanctuary  some  child 
of  adversity  or  bereavement,  whose  cup  seems  to  be  full 
to  overflowing  with  sorrow,  let  me  say  there  is  comfort 
for  you  here.     Thou,  O   child  of  afifliction,  art  not  for- 


NOT  ONE  FORGOTTEN.  383 

gotten.  Forgotten  before  man  thou  mayest  be,  forsaken 
of  kindred,  deserted  of  friends,  but  not  forgotten  before 
God.  His  eye  of  love  is  upon  thee.  His  pitying  arms 
enfold  thee.  He  will  be  with  thee  in  all  the  way  thou 
goest.  * '  Fear  not, ' '  is  his  message,  *  *  I  will  help  thee. '  * 
Say,  O  timid  one,  "I  will  trust  and  not  be  afraid"  ;  for 
* '  the  eternal  God  is  thy  refuge,  and  underneath  are  the 
everlasting  arms." 


THE  SABBATH-DAY.* 

BY  REV.  W.  F.  V.  BARTLETT,  D,  D.. 
Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Lexington,  Ky. 


"And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  from  one  new  moon  to  an- 
other, and  from  one  Sabbath  to  another,  shall  all  flesh  come  to 
worship  before  me,  saith  the  Lord." — Isaiah  Ixvi.  23. 

IS  the  Sabbath  a  divine  institution  of  permanent  and 
universal  obligation?  Is  it  of  God,  and  did  God  in- 
tend it  for  all  mankind?  This  is  the  question  that 
lies  at  the  root  of  the  present-day  Sabbath  controversy. 
Many  are  losing  a  sense  of  the  sacred  quality  of  the  day. 
Many  are  turning  it  from  a  holy  day  to  a  holiday.  Cor- 
porations are  turning  it  from  a  rest-day  to  a  work-day. 
Many  who  teach  that  it  should  be  set  apart  for  a  rest- 
day  and  a  day  for  religious  purposes  affirm  this  upon 
grounds  of  expediency,  and  not  as  a  matter  of  divine  re- 
quirement. In  the  midst  of  so  much  diversity  of  opin- 
ion, the  question  is  a  pertinent  and  an  important  one,  Is 
the  setting  apart  of  one  day  in  seven  a  divine  ordinance, 
and  did  God  intend  it  to  be  permanent  and  universal? 
If  it  be,  we  should  know  it,  and  we  should  want  to  know 
it.  If  it  be,  then  to  speak  otherwise  of  it,  as  though  the 
Sabbath  were  a  mere  human  arrangement,  which  men 
may  treat  as  they  please,  is  to  profane  it.  It  is  to  dis- 
honor God  and  to  trample  his  will  under  our  feet.  It  is 
a  sin.  Let  us  see  what  Scripture  teaches  on  this  subject. 
Certainly  what  Scripture  requires  we  are  bound  to  accept. 


♦  A  sermon  delivered  before  the  Synod  of  Kentucky. 
384 


fH\f;? 


and 


:r>y, 

:diy, 

Cor- 

t  J  lok-day. 

octwarest- 

'  \  ::j  upon 


■:tiie 


It  is 
:'DJect. 


r 

W 


..fir^y- 


,.-^,\,  4  ^.-  <- 'i 'i  ■«■ '* --i  V  "i  y^  4  . 


THE  SABBATH-DAY.  385 

I  call  your  attention  to  three  separate  declarations  of 
the  word  of  God,  which  ought  to  settle  this  matter. 
One  is  the  account  given  in  Genesis  of  the  origin  of  the 
Sabbath ;  the  second  is  the  fourth  command  of  the  deca- 
logue, and  the  third  is  the  utterance  of  our  Lord. 

These  three  passages,  like  a  threefold  cord  that  cannot 
be  easily  broken,  contain  the  scriptural  argument. 

In  the  first  place,  we  may  argue  for  the  permanent 
and  universal  obligation  of  the  Sabbath  from  the  nature 
and  date  of  its  origin. 

In  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis  the  first  three  verses 
read  as  follows  :  '  *  Thus  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were 
finished,  and  all  the  host  of  them ;  and  on  the  seventh 
day  God  ended  his  work  which  he  had  made ;  .  .  .  and 
God  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sanctified  it,  because 
that  in  it  he  had  rested  from  all  his  work  which  God 
created  and  made. ' ' 

These  words  follow  upon  the  description  given  in  the 
first  chapter  of  the  six  days  of  creation.  They  tell  us 
that  God's  six  days'  work  was  followed  by  God's  resting 
on  the  seventh  day ;  and,  therefore,  he  appointed  the  sev- 
enth day,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  one  day  in  seven, 
as  a  day  for  rest  and  a  sanctified  day. 

It  seems  to  me  that  our  whole  contention  is  contained 
in  that  declaration.  How  any  one  who  accepts  the  Bible 
as  the  inspired  and  infallible  word  of  God  can  escape  it, 
I  do  not  see.  What  does  it  teach  ?  Certainly  that  the 
Sabbath  is  a  divine  ordinance ;  that  it  is  not  a  human 
invention.  It  is  God's  arrangement;  that  is  clear. 
God,  says  the  record,  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanc- 
tified it.  This  setting  apart,  then,  of  one  day  in  seven, 
was  ordained  by  God.  You  must  bear  that  in  mind. 
You  must  remember  that  in  dealing  with  the  Sabbath 
you  are  not  dealing  with  a  mere  human  device.  It  is 
25 


386  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

not  like  a  tariff  bill  or  a  lodge  bill  that  men  may  quarrel 
over.  It  is  not  an  enactment  of  the  state.  It  is  God's 
institution  ;  the  creation  of  God's  will  and  armed  with 
God's  sanction.  As,  then,  God  made  it,  no  man  has  a 
right  to  unmake  it.  Only  God  can  do  that.  But  has 
God  done  that  ?  Can  you  point  to  a  single  passage  in 
his  word  where  he  has  done  it?  In  this  passage  God 
distinctly  says  that  one  day  in  seven  shall  be  set  apart 
as  a  blessed  and  a  sanctified  day.  Where,  in  all  the 
pages  of  inspiration,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  will 
you  find  any  utterance  of  God  to  the  contrary — that  one 
day  in  seven  shall  not  thus  be  set  apart? 

But  this  passage  not  only  teaches  that  the  Sabbath  is 
an  ordinance  of  God ;  it  just  as  plainly  teaches  that  God 
intended  it  to  be  permanent.  That  appears  in  the  reason 
assigned.  When  a  law  has  a  temporary  ground  or  reason 
for  its  enactment,  its  obligation  will  be  temporary.  The 
obligation  to  observe  it  will  cease  with  the  reason  for 
enacting  it.  But  where  the  reason  of  the  law  is  perma- 
nent, the  law  itself  will  be  permanent,  too.  Is  not  that 
sound  logic?  Apply  it  here.  What  was  the  divine 
reason  assigned  for  instituting  the  Sabbath?  Because 
(iod  rested  after  his  six  days'  work.  Is  not  that  reason 
as  good  to-day  as  it  was  then  ?  Will  it  not  be  as  valid  in 
the  last  generation  of  mankind  as  it  was  in  the  first? 
Because  God,  having  worked  six  days,  rested  the  seventh. 
Can  time  change  the  force  of  that  consideration  ?  Who 
shall  dare  to  say,  until  God  bid  him  to,  that  that  reason 
is  not  as  good  now  as  it  ever  was  ? 

And  then,  too,  not  only  the  permanency,  but  also  the 
universality,  of  the  Sabbath  obligation  appears  in  these 
words.  Of  what  time  do  these  words  in  Genesis  speak? 
Is  it  not  the  time  immediately  following  upon  the  crea- 
tion?    Hear  them  again:    "Thus  the  heavens  and  the 


THE  SABBATH-DAY.  387 

earth  were  finished,  and  all  the  host  of  them;  and  on 
the  seventh  day  God  ended  his  work  which  he  had 
made ;  .  .  .  and  God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and 
sanctified  it,  because  that  in  it  he  had  rested  from  all  his 
work  which  God  created  and  made."  Is  it  not  plain 
that  the  time  referred  to  here  is  the  time  that  followed 
directly  upon  completing  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and 
all  the  host  of  them?  Is  not  that  the  natural  sense? 
Anti-Sabbatarians  try  to  get  away  from  that  sense,  but 
is  not  that  the  plain  meaning  ?  After  the  heavens  and 
the  earth,  and  all  the  host  of  them  were  finished,  then  it 
was  that  God  rested  on  the  seventh  day  and  blessed  and 
sanctified  it.  If  that  be  so,  the  Sabbath  is  coeval  with 
the  creation.  It  was  instituted  at  the  beginning.  It  did 
not  first  appear  in  later  ages.  God  estabHshed  it  at  the 
outset.  It  was,  therefore,  given  to  all  mankind;  in- 
tended for  the  whole  human  family.  If  the  Sabbath  had 
first  appeared  among  the  Hebrews,  in  God's  legislation 
for  them,  it  might  have  been  supposed  to  be  intended 
only  for  the  Jews.  But  here  we  see  that  it  appears  at 
the  beginning  of  human  history,  with  the  very  com- 
mencement of  mankind ;  therefore  it  must  have  been  in- 
tended for  mankind.  Even  Dr.  Paley  admits  that.  He 
says  that  if  the  divine  command  was  actually  delivered 
at  the  creation,  it  was  addressed,  no  doubt,  to  the  whole 
human  species  alike,  and  continues,  unless  repealed  by 
some  subsequent  revelation,  binding  upon  all  who  come 
to  the  knowledge  of  it.  That  is  exactly  the  fact,  and 
yet  that  admission  comes  from  one  of  the  strongest  of 
the  anti-Sabbatarians.  It  is  an  admission  that  contains 
the  whole  argument. 

The  fact  is  that,  as  I  read  these  words  in  Genesis,  I 
cannot  but  feel  that  in  them  God  intends  to  tell  us  that 
the  principle  of  the  Sabbath,  viz.,  that  of  one  day  in 


388  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

seven  for  cessation  from  labor  and  for  rest,  is  wrought 
into  our  nature  and  implanted  in  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  the  universe.  Men  are  so  made,  and  animals 
too,  tliat  they  need  to  have  that  interval  to  recuperate 
their  wasted  energies.  So  physiologists  tell  us.  So  ex- 
perience demonstrates.  The  daily  nocturnal  rest  is  not 
sufi&cient.  The  human  system  is  like  a  seven-day  clock. 
That  is  the  law  of  our  being.  That  is  the  way  our  na- 
ture has  been  created  and  things  around  us  have  been 
fixed.  That  being  the  case,  I  take  these  words  in 
Genesis  as  God's  announcement  of  that  fact.  They  may 
be  paraphrased  after  some  such  fashion  as  this.  It  is  as 
if  God  had  said  to  mankind,  just  as  they  were  starting 
out  on  their  world-wide  career :  "I  have  just  got  through 
the  work  of  creation ;  you  are  now  about  to  commence 
your  course.  There  are  some  things  you  must  at  once 
understand.  One  is,  that  in  creating  your  nature  and 
things  around  you,  I  have  fixed  it  that  one  day  in  seven 
must  be  set  apart  as  a  rest  day.  I  have  also  constituted 
it  to  be  a  blessed  day  and  a  sanctified  day.  It  is  so 
woven  into  the  constitution  of  your  being.  It  is  the  law 
of  your  nature.  Be  sure  to  keep  it  in  mind  and  observe  it. 
For  if  you  do  not,  the  economy  of  your  well-being  will 
be  disturbed.  Your  body  will  suffer;  your  mind,  j'our 
heart,  every  part  of  your  nature,  will  suffer.  It  is  abso- 
lutely necessary,  if  you  want  to  rise  to  your  best  and 
noblest  development."  That  is  the  way  I  would  read 
these  words  in  Genesis.  When  read  that  way,  it  is  ap- 
parent that  the  Sabbath  was  intended  to  be  permanent 
and  universal;  for  if  it  be  a  law  implanted  in  our  na- 
ture, then  that  law  can  never  be  abrogated  until  our 
nature  has  been  re-created. 

These  statements  may  be  confirmed  and  illustrated  by 
the  case  of  marriage.     In  the  same  chapter  of  Genesis 


THE  SABBATH-DAY.  389 

we  read :    *'  God  said,  It  is  not  good  that  the  man  should 

be  alone.     I  will  make  him  a  help  meet  for  him 

And  they  shall  be  one  flesh."  That  is  the  law  of  mar- 
riage, one  man  and  one  woman,  man's  helpmeet,  and 
both  together  a  unity.  That  law  is  woven  into  our  na- 
ture. It  is  not  an  arbitrary  enactment  in  such  a  sense 
that  any  other  arrangement  would  answer  just  as  well. 
We  are  made  and  constituted  that  way.  When,  then, 
God  said,  It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone,  he  needs  a 
woman  for  helpmeet,  and  the  two  shall  be  one  flesh,  he 
was  not  enacting  a  law,  he  was  simply  enunciating  the 
law  of  our  nature,  telling  us  how  we  were  made,  what 
must  be  the  order  of  our  life  in  the  sexual  relation  for 
our  best  development.  Exactly  the  same  is  true  of  the 
Sabbath.  The  fact  is,  that  marriage  and  the  Sabbath  are 
twin  institutions.  They  are  both  coeval  with  creation. 
They  both  stand  at  the  commencement  of  the  world's 
history.  They  both  indicate  the  order  and  constitution 
of  our  nature.  They  are  not  like  paper  laws,  not  like 
the  enactments  on  our  statute-books,  but  they  are  set  in 
our  very  being,  like  as  gravitation  is  set  in  the  orbs  of 
the  sky.  ^  They  are  written  all  over  our  bodies  and  our 
minds.  They  are  the  lines  in  which  our  nature  is  ap- 
pointed to  act — ^just  as  there  are  certain  lines  in  which 
the  rose  bush  matures  into  the  flower,  or  the  fig  tree  or 
the  orange  into  the  luscious  fruit.  They  are  so  wrought 
into  our  being  that  marriage  lies  at  the  root  of  our  earthly 
welfare,  and  the  Sabbath  at  the  root  of  our  spiritual  and 
eternal  welfare.  This  is  so  true,  that  if  marriage,  which 
the  enemies  of  mankind  want  to  destroy,  and  the  Sab- 
bath, which  the  enemies  of  God  wane  to  destroy,  were 
got  rid  of,  all  order  would  be  upset  and  the  world  be 
turned  into  a  pandemonium.  So  true  is  this,  that  always 
wherever  the  law  of  marriage  and  the  law  of  Sabbath 


390  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

have  been  most  faithfully  observed  the  nations  have 
been  most  mighty  and  prosperous.  You  see,  then,  that 
in  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  Sabbath  was  designed  to  be 
a  permanent  and  universal  institution.  If,  like  marriage, 
it  is  fixed  in  man's  nature,  and  woven  into  the  constitu- 
tion and  order  of  things,  even  God  himself  could  not 
do  away  with  it  without  making  our  nature  all  over 
again. 

Our  second  argument  is  based  upon  the  fourth  com- 
mandment. The  presence  of  this  command  among  those 
delivered  on  the  top  of  Sinai,  when  properly  understood, 
is  proof  of  the  universal  and  permanent  obligation  of  the 
Sabbath. 

What  was  the  first  thing  God  did  after  the  creation 
was  finished,  and  before  the  human  race  had  started 
upon  its  historical  career?  It  was  to  announce  the  law 
of  the  Sabbath.  What  was  the  first  thing  God  did  when 
he  took  a  people  from  out  the  world  which  had  wickedly 
departed  from  him,  and  before  he  started  them  on  their 
national  career?  It  was  to  revive  and  reinforce  the  law 
of  the  Sabbath.  Does  that  look  as  if  God  intended  the 
institution  of  the  Sabbath  to  pass  out  of  existence  ? 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  because  the  fourth  command- 
ment was  addressed  to  the  Jews,  it  was  designed  only 
for  the  Jews.  But  why  is  not  that  said  of  the  first,  or 
the  second,  or  the  third,  or  any  of  the  others?  Why 
should  that  be  said  only  of  the  fourth  ?  Why  fasten  ob- 
jection on  that  one  alone,  and  not  make  the  same  asser- 
tion as  to  the  other  nine  ? 

There  are  three  things  that  ought  to  correct  such  a 
notion.  One  is  the  word  "Remember."  "Remember 
the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy."  Did  it  ever  occur  to 
you  that  that  is  a  very  remarkable  word  to  put  at  the 
beginning  of  a  law  ?     No  other  law  in  the  decalogue  be- 


THE  SABBATH-DAY.  39I 

gins  with  such  a  word.  No  other  law  in  the  Bible  be- 
gins with  such  a  word.  I  do  not  know  that  any  law  on 
our  statute-books  begins  with  such  a  word.  Why,  then, 
does  the  fourth  commandment  begin  with  that  word? 
Because  God  having  established  the  Sabbath  in  the  be- 
ginning, and  the  world  having  forgotten  it,  God  is  charg- 
ing the  people  whom  he  had  taken  out  of  the  world  to 
be  his  peculiar  people  to  remember  it.  His  people  must 
not  do  with  the  old  Sabbath  ordinance,  which  had  come 
down  from  the  beginning,  what  the  world  had  done  with 
it — forget  it;  they  must  remember  it.  It  is  as  if  God 
had  said :  *  *  I  am  now  giving  you  a  code  of  laws  lying  at 
the  foundation  of  all  individual  and  national  prosperity. 
They  are  laws  that  are  set  in  the  nature  of  things.  No 
nation  can  attain  to  real  and  lasting  greatness  without 
them.  In  selecting  you  to  be  my  peculiar  people,  I  an- 
nounce them  to  you.  The  other  nations,  who  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  me,  I  leave  to  themselves.  They 
have  got  to  learn,  by  rough  experience,  that  in  depart- 
ing from  my  statutes  they  have  deserted  the  way  of  hap- 
piness and  power.  The  ten  commandments  are  the  way. 
There  is,  there  can  be,  no  other  way.  Among  them  is 
the  law  of  the  Sabbath.  Be  sure  to  remember  that.  The 
other  nations  have  forgotten  it,  and  so  must  suffer  the 
consequence.  Do  not  be  like  them.  Remember  it.  Not 
only  your  greatest  power  and  prosperity,  but  even  your 
existence,  is  interwoven  with  its  remembrance. ' '  I  take 
that  to  be  the  meaning  of  that  remarkable  word.  A  pro- 
per understanding,  then,  of  that  word  shows  how  false 
is  the  idea  that  the  Sabbath  was  intended  only  for  the 
Jews. 

A  second  thing  is,  because  it  is  not  found  among  the 
ceremonial  regulations  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth. 
Had  it  been  put  there,  the  opinion  that  it  was  intended 


392  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

only  for  the  Jews  might  have  had  some  force.  When 
those  ceremonial  rules  passed  away,  it  would  have  passed 
away,  too.  But,  instead  of  being  among  the  ceremonial 
regulations,  it  is  in  the  decalogue,  and  one  of  its  princi- 
pal precepts.  It  belongs  to  the  ten  commandments, 
which  the  ceremonial  arrangement  did  not.  It  is  one  of 
the  longest  of  the  ten  commandments,  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  of  them,  one  of  the  most  strongly  empha- 
sized of  them.  Like  the  other  nine,  it  was  spoken  by 
the  mouth  of  Jehovah,  amid  the  awful  solemnities  of 
Sinai.  Like  the  other  nine,  it  was  engraven  on  stone,  as 
a  symbol  of  perpetuity.  Like  the  other  nine,  it  was  laid 
in  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  It  occupies  so  important  a 
place  in  the  series  as  to  come  before  the  commands  against 
filial  disobedience,  against  theft,  murder,  adultery,  covet- 
ousness,  and  the  like.  Is  it  possible  that  God  could  have 
associated  it  so  closely  with  the  other  nine,  confessedly 
intended  to  be  permanent  and  universal,  and  have  given 
it  such  a  conspicuous  and  prominent  place  amongst  them, 
if  he  had  not  intended  it  to  be  permanent  and  universal 
too?  Is  he  a  God  of  confusion?  Is  he  not  a  God  of 
order  ? 

The  third  thing  is,  because  the  fourth  commandment 
is  the  keystone  of  the  arch.  Take  that  away,  and  all  the 
others  will  soon  fall  to  the  ground.  How  long  would 
men  remember  the  first  command,  to  have  no  other  gods 
before  Jehovah ;  or  the  second,  not  to  worship  idol  im- 
ages ;  or  the  third,  not  to  profane  the  holy  name,  if  one 
day  in  seven  were  not  set  apart  for  them  to  learn  of  God 
and  to  worship  him?  Even  as  it  is,  how  ignorant  and 
careless  men  become  in  relation  to  their  duties  towards 
God !  Or  how  long  would  it  be  before  men  would  cease 
to  honor  and  obey  their  parents,  and  fall  into  crime,  if 
this  day  were  abolished?     Take  away  the  fourth  com- 


THE  SABBATH-DAY.  393 

mand,  and  you  will  break  down  all  the  others.  Do  you 
doubt  this?  See,  then,  the  atheism,  the  vice,  the  crime, 
the  lack  of  filial  honor,  the  weakening  of  family  ties,  the 
robberies,  the  murders,  the  rapes,  multiplying  on  every 
side  of  us  at  the  very  time  men  are  being  taught  that  the 
Sabbath  is  no  longer  of  divine  obligation.  In  the  his- 
tory of  our  country  there  has  never  been  the  amount  of 
criminality  of  every  sort  that  exists  now ;  in  the  history 
of  our  country  there  has  never  been  a  time  when  the 
Sabbath  has  been  so  neglected  and  ignored.  Do  you  not 
see  how  the  two  things  go  together?  This  is  according 
to  the  observation  of  the  great  men  who  sit  on  the  watch- 
towers  of  the  world.  Blackstone  says  :  '*A  corruption  of 
morals  usually  follows  a  profanation  of  the  Sabbath." 

Prideaux  says :  "  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that,  if  the 
Sabbath  were  dropped  from  amongst  us,  the  generality 
of  the  people,  whatever  else  might  be  done  to  obviate  it, 
would,  in  a  few  years,  relapse  into  as  bad  a  state  of  bar- 
barism as  was  ever  in  practice  among  the  worst  of  our 
Danish  or  Saxon  ancestors." 

Does  that  seem  too  strong  ?  Then  you  know  but  little 
about  the  history  of  criminology,  and  of  communities 
and  nations.  Let  the  Sabbath  be  devoutly  observed, 
and  the  other  commands  will  be  observed  too.  Let  the 
Sabbath  be  habitually  profaned,  the  other  commands 
will  be  disobeyed  too.  Break  down  that  one  command, 
and  all  the  others  will  soon  follow.  Suppose  the  Sab- 
bath were  observed  all  over  our  State;  among  our  moun- 
tains, in  our  valleys,  and  in  every  part  of  the  State;  do 
you  imagine  that  we  should  have  the  lawlessness  and 
disorder  that  now  darken  and  blacken  the  civilization  of 
this  commonwealth  ?  Therefore  it  is  that  God  put  it  in 
the  middle  of  the  decalogue;  and  its  presence  there 
ought  to  convince  every  right-minded  person  what  the 


394  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

sig.nificance  is  that  God  attaches  to  it,  and  what  his  pur- 
pose was  in  framing  it. 

But  we  may  go  further,  and,  in  the  last  place,  argue 
for  the  universal  and  perpetual  obligation  of  the  Sab- 
bath from  the  direct  utterances  of  our  Lord.  Strange  that 
persons  who  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Old  Testa- 
ment suppose  that  in  giving  that  up  the  Sabbath  goes 
with  it.  Hear  what  our  Lord  says :  "  The  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath:  therefore 
the  Son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath."  Could 
there  be  a  clearer  recognition  of  the  Sabbath  than  that, 
or  a  stronger  authentication  of  it?  Do  you  not  see  that 
in  these  words  our  Lord  is  doing  just  what  was  done  at 
the  creation  and  upon  the  organization  of  the  Hebrew 
commonwealth?  At  the  creation,  as  the  human  race 
was  starting  out  on  its  historical  career,  God  ordained 
the  Sabbath.  At  the  organization  of  the  Hebrew  com- 
monwealth, when  God  is  starting  his  peculiar  people  out 
on  their  national  career,  he  re -ordains  the  Sabbath.  At 
the  inception  of  Christ's  kingdom,  when  our  Lord  is 
starting  it  out  on  its  world-wide  mission,  he  takes  up 
the  Sabbath  again,  and  makes  it  one  of  his  institutions. 
He  does  not  annul  it.  He  does  not  ignore  it.  What  he 
does  is  to  remove  the  errors  and  corruptions  grown 
around  it,  and  exhibit  it  in  its  true  nature.  He  claims 
it  as  his  institution,  invests  it  with  his  authority,  and 
constitutes  it  a  vital  part  of  his  kingdom.  Mark  his 
words  :  "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man 
for  the  Sabbath :  therefore  the  Son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of 
the  Sabbath."  What  do  these  words  mean?  I  think 
the  key  to  them  is  found  in  that  little  word  *'also." 
The  idea  is  this,  that  the  Son  of  man  was  made  Lord  of 
the  Sabbath  because  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man. 
Let  us  expand  this  statement.     You  will  observe  that  we 


THE  SABBATH-DAY.  395 

have  a  syllogism  here,  with  the  major  premise  omitted. 
The  full  syllogism  might  be  expressed  as  follows :  The 
Son  of  man  is  Lord  of  everything  intended  for  man  and 
for  man's  good;  but  the  Sabbath  was  intended  for  man 
and  man's  good;  therefore  the  Son  of  man  is  made 
Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath. 

Now,  with  that  syllogism  before  your  eyes,  you  can 
arrive  at  our  Lord's  exact  meaning  in  these  words.  He 
is  talking  to  the  Pharisees.  He  is  telling  them  that  they 
have  perverted  the  real  meaning  of  the  Sabbath.  You 
have  supposed  he  would  say  to  them  that  God  originally 
gave  that  day  to  you  as  a  peculiarly  Jewish  institution. 
As  such,  you  have  supposed  that  it  should  be  observed 
in  a  peculiarly  Jewish  way.  But  you  are  mistaken.  It 
is  not  a  peculiarly  Jewish  institution  at  all.  God  origi- 
nally made  it  for  man — for  all  men ;  not  for  you  alone, 
but  for  man  universally,  and  made  it  for  man's  good. 
*  *  But  you  have  perverted  it  from  this  purpose  ;  you  have 
made  it  a  Jewish  day ;  you  have  made  it  a  hard  day ;  you 
have  turned  it  into  a  day  that,  instead  of  doing  good, 
brings  harm  and  evil.  Well,  now,  as  everything  that 
pertains  to  man  and  man's  welfare  has  been  put  into  my 
hands,  so  I  have  been  given  charge  of  the  Sabbath ;  and 
I  have  been  given  charge  of  it  that  I  might  recover  it 
from  your  perversion  of  it,  and  see  to  it  that  its  original 
purpose  of  being  made  a  blessing  to  mankind  is  carried 
out. ' ' 

That,  I  understand  to  be  the  meaning  of  these  words, 
a  meaning  so  plain  that  I  wonder  anybody  could  have 
missed  it.  Do  you  not  see,  then,  that  in  these  words 
there  is  no  intention  on  the  part  of  our  Lord  to  weaken, 
by  a  hair's  breadth,  the  obhgation  of  the  Sabbath  ;  that, 
on  the  contrary,  his  purpose  is  to  confirm  and  strengthen 
it;    nay,  more  than  that,  to  liberate  it  from  its  Jewish 


396  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

limitations  and  restore  it  to  its  original  universalit}^? 
Do  not  his  words  plainly  teach  that,  instead  of  its  being 
iess  true  under  the  gospel  that  the  Sabbath  is  an  institu- 
tion of  universal  and  permanent  obligation,  it  is  more 
true  now  than  ever  before?  And  is  not  this  exactly 
what  the  ancient  prophet  predicted  in  our  text,  when, 
in  speaking  of  Christian  times,  he  said  that  "From  one 
Sabbath  to  another  shall  all  flesh  come  to  worship  before 
me,  saith  the  Lord  ' '  ? 

With  two  brief  remarks  your  patience  shall  be  relieved. 

One  is,  that  while  Scripture  teaches  that  the  Sabbath 
is  a  divine  ordinance  of  perpetual  and  universal  obliga- 
tion, it  does  not  identify  it  with  any  particular  day  of  the 
week.  It  does  not  command  its  observance  on  Saturday 
or  Sunday  or  any  other  day  of  the  week.  What  the 
ordinance  exactly  says  is,  that  God  blessed  the  seventh 
day  and  sanctified  it,  but  what  day  is  to  be  regarded  as 
the  seventh  day  is  nowhere  indicated  in  the  command. 
The  reason  is  plain.  It  is  because  it  is  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference which  day  of  the  week  is  taken,  if  so  be  that  one- 
seventh  of  our  time  is  given  to  that  purpose.  Under  the 
old  Hebrew  dispensation,  Saturday  was  the  day  observed, 
although  it  may  be  doubted  whether  that  w^as  the  day 
appointed  at  the  beginning.  Since  our  Lord  ascended, 
Sunday  is  the  day  that  is  taken.  It  is  easy  to  under- 
stand why  the  change  should  have  been  made. 

Why  was  Saturday  preferred  as  the  day  for  the  Sab- 
bath under  the  Jewish  dispensation  ?  Because  that  day 
was  the  day  which  commemorated  the  deliverance  of  the 
chosen  people  from  Egypt  (their  deliverance,  it  is  thought 
by  scholars,  being  accomplished  on  Saturday),  and  it 
was  so  great  an  event  that  it  was  incorporated  into  the 
meaning  of  their  Sabbath.  But  under  the  Christian  dis- 
pensation we  have  an  event  to  take  the  place  of  that,  and 


THE  SABBATH-DAY.  397 

far  greater  than  that ;  that  is,  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
by  which  our  eternal  deHverance  has  been  effected.  His 
resurrection  took  place  on  Sunday,  therefore  Sunday  is 
the  day  preferred  for  the  Christian  Sabbath.  That  is 
one  reason  for  the  change. 

The  other  is,  because  the  design  of  the  Sabbath  is  that 
it  should  be  a  day  of  delights,  of  rejoicing,  a  festal  day, 
not  a  sad  day  ;  a  day  of  joy,  not  of  gloom  and  fasting. 

Do  you  not  know  that  in  the  early  church  men  were 
forbidden  to  pray  on  their  knees  on  the  Sabbath  ?  They 
were  to  stand  erect,  exulting  in  the  accomplishment  of 
the  work  of  God's  redeeming  love.  That  being  the  de- 
sign of  the  Sabbath,  you  can  at  once  see  that  Saturday 
would  not  be  the  proper  day  for  it,  because  on  that  day 
our  Lord  was  in  the  grave  under  the  power  of  death,  and 
our  redemption  had  not  been  accomplished  ;  whereas  on 
Sunday  he  arose,  bringing  full  redemption  with  him. 

Hence  it  was  on  Sunday,  the  day  of  his  resurrection, 
that  our  Lord  met  his  disciples  assembled  together. 
Hence  it  was  on  Sunday  of  the  week  following  that  he 
met  them  again  assembled  together.  Hence  it  was  on 
Sunday,  called  Pentecost,  that  the  Spirit  descended  in  a 
miraculous  and  glorious  manner  upon  the  apostles. 
Hence  it  was  on  Sunday  the  disciples  were  wont  to  as- 
semble to  break  bread  and  make  charitable  contributions 
to  the  suffering  brethren.  Hence  it  was  that  the  Apos- 
tle John,  in  the  Book  of  Revelation,  styles  this  day 
*'the  Lord's  day,"  and  hence  it  is,  too,  that  God  has 
perpetually  and  gloriously  annexed  his  blessing  to  the 
Christian  Sabbath.  Wherever  throughout  the  Christian 
world  Sunday  has  been  observed  as  the  Sabbath-day,  it 
has  been  followed  by  all  the  blessings  God  has  pro- 
nounced upon  a  proper  observance  of  his  day  ;  and  it 
would  be  hard  to  find  a  more  invincible  proof  of  the 


398  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

actual  resurrection  of  our  Lord  than  that  the  church  from 
the  beginning  selected  Sunday,  the  day  commemorating 
it,  for  its  Sabbath-day. 

Our  last  remark  has  respect  to  the  observance  of  the 
Sabbath.  On  this  point  I  have  said  nothing,  because 
the  great  need  of  our  time  is  to  have  a  sense  of  the 
sacredness  of  the  day  revived  in  the  hearts  of  Christian 
people.  It  is  useless  to  talk  about  the  manner  in  which 
the  Sabbath  should  be  observed,  unless  the  people  are 
convinced  of  its  sacred  character;  and  if  they  are  con- 
vinced of  its  sacred  character  it  will  be  easy  for  them  to 
understand  how  it  should  be  observed.  The  point  de- 
manded to  be  emphasized  at  the  present  time  is  that  the 
Sabbath  is  a  sanctified  da}^  set  apart  by  God  to  a  sacred 
and  holy  use.  That  is  what  is  being  lost  out  of  the  con- 
sciousness of  Christian  people.  That  is  what  we  must 
labor  to  restore.  Impress  the  people  with  the  divinity 
of  the  day — that  it  is  a  divinely  appointed  season,  and 
that  in  dishonoring  it  they  are  dishonoring  a  distinct 
ordinance  of  God.  Make  them  to  feel  that  it  is  not  a  mere 
institution  of  expediency ;  not  a  mere  matter  of  civil  or 
ecclesiastical  decree,  but  a  day  enjoined  by  God  himself. 
Unless  they  feel  that  way,  the  current  of  worldly  busi- 
ness and  pleasure  will  sweep  it  from  the  church.  The 
only  alternative  is  either  a  Sabbath  set  apart  by  divine 
authority,  or  no  Sabbath  at  all.  We  must  labor  to  incul- 
cate the  sacredness  of  the  day  upon  the  minds  of  our 
people  alike,  old  and  young.  Otherwise  they  will  do 
pretty  much  as  they  please  on  the  Sabbath ;  will  travel 
on  the  Sabbath ;  entertain  socially  on  the  Sabbath ;  read 
novels,  and  newspapers,  and  magazines;  be  careless 
about  the  requirements  of  the  sanctuary,  aud  let  their 
conversation  run  upon  business,  crops,  politics,  fashions, 
and  other  worldly  things. 


v'CT    PP\^P  \!  Pf' 


Pro  ft 


and  Polemic  Thr. 
'mtnary,  Col^anbia. 


TheoloiTtcal 


'"And  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  ar.d  the  woman,  and 
between  thy  seed  and  her  seed:  it  shall  bruise     -     "^ 
thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."— Genesis  iii.  i;?. 

THIS  verst:,   though  often  quoted     r-.  seldom  made 
the  subject  of  public  discourse.      Vet,  iir  itself  and 
m  its  relation  to  other  Scripture,  it  is  eminently 
worthy  of  such  consideration.     It  is  the  first  form  in 
which  the  gospel  was  revealed,  and  the.  ^erni  of  all  sub 
sequent  revelations  concerning  Christ  and  hi--  kinp-^^ 
We  read  it  with  the  interest  of  an  explorer  who 
into  the  fottutain-head  of  some  mighty  river.     There  i>.  • 
too,  an  advantage  gained  for  the  study  of  the  nature  ol 
the  gospel,  by  taking  our  staiid  at  this  first  revelation. 
The  plan  of  the  Bible  is  not  io^iCxd,  as  of  a  treatise,  but 
historical.     If  we  wish  to  study  the  political  institutions 
of  this  country  in  which  we  live,  we  go  l)ack  to  the  co- 
lonial j)eriod,  and  begin  with  the  seeds  and  tendencies 
contained  in  the  early  deliverances  of  our  tathers. 

I.  This  first  gospel  was  nor  addressed  directly  to  Adam 
and  Eve.  That  they  heard  it  i!id  were  saved  through 
faith  in  what  it  announced,  is  not  questioned.  The 
words  themselves  teach  tliat  the  heart  of  the  woman  was 
renewed.  And  Adam  prfx  laimed  his  faith  by  calling  his 
W'ife  Eve    :i  nr<n.<-  ulentifvinj?   ber  iiis  tlu    nu)thtr  of  the 


4  'I  ■  V  I  "-^  ^- 


^4-  <■  '4- 


400  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

seed  that  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  All  this 
is  true,  and  yet  the  words  of  the  text  are  a  part  of  the 
address  to  the  serpent.  This  is  a  significant  fact,  and 
calls  for  our  consideration.  It  intimates  the  radical  char- 
acter and  wide  scope  of  the  gospel.  Adam  and  Eve  had 
sinned  in  eating  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  the  divine  dis- 
pleasure against  them  for  their  sin  was  signally  mani- 
fested. But  the  real  author  of  the  ruin  wrought  in  the 
garden  of  Eden  was  the  devil,  who  is  a  liar  and  a  mur- 
derer from  the  beginning.  (John  viii.  44.)  So  he  is  first 
addressed,  and  the  curse  is  laid  upon  him.  The  effect  of 
the  gospel  is  not  confined  to  the  release  of  the  captives 
of  the  serpent,  but  extends  to  the  tempter  as  well.  The 
serpent's  head  is  to  be  bruised.  The  gospel  goes  to  the 
root  of  the  matter,  and  makes  an  end  of  sins.  ''Foras- 
much then  as  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and 
blood,  he  also  himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same, 
that  through  death  he  might  destroy  him  that  had  the 
power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil."     (Hebrews  ii.  14.) 

II.  Another  circumstance  that  claims  attention  is  that 
this  first  gospel  is  found  in  the  bosom  of  a  curse.  The 
first  curse  and  the  first  promise  come  to  us  in  the  same 
sentence ;  and  the  form  of  the  utterance  is  the  curse 
upon  the  serpent.  There  is  more  in  this  association  than 
the  general  fact  that  the  salvation  of  God's  people  is  al- 
ways attended  with  judgment  upon  their  enemies.  This 
interview  in  the  garden  follows  closely  upon  the  sin  of 
our  first  parents.  No  one  can  read  it  and  not  recognize 
the  intrinsic  demerit  of  sin  and  the  awful  character  of 
the  retributive  justice  of  God.  God  made  man  holy,  and 
gave  him  dominion  over  this  beautiful  world.  He 
made  a  covenant  with  man  upon  the  easiest  of  terms, 
and  gave  to  man  the  opportunity,  under  that  covenant, 
of  securing  eternal  blessedness  by  a  brief  period  of  obe- 


THE  GOSPEL  AS  FIRST   REVEALED.  4OI 

dience.     The  tempter  entered,  and  man  fell.     At  once 
he  felt  in  his  soul  both  nakedness  and  guilt.     God  is 
just  as  well  as  merciful.     Sin  is  death  to  the  soul.    This 
is  the  plain  import  of  the  shame  and  dread  of  Adam  and 
Eve  after  they  had  sinned.     They  were  now  under  the 
curse  of  the  violated  covenant  of  works.     It  is  in  this 
situation  the  first  promise  is  made  to  them.     To  provide 
reUef  for  their  guilt  and  shame  was  the  object  of  the  first 
promise,  so  far  as  they  were  concerned.     It  was  a  pro- 
mise of  salvation  to  them  through  the  coming  seed  of 
the  woman.     He  was  to  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent, 
and  to  put  enmity  between  him  and  the  family  of  man. 
In  accomplishing  this  the  serpent  was  to  bruise  his  heel. 
The  deliverance  was  to  be  effected  by  suffering,  by  vica- 
rious suffering.     This  much  is  plain  from  the  promise 
itself;  and  that  the  suffering  was  to  be  expiatory  in  its 
nature  was  signified  by  the  institution  of  sacrifice  in  the 
family  of  Adam.     The  great  doctrine  that  without  the 
shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remission  was  imbedded  in 
the  gospel  from  the  first.     There  was  no  hint  to  the 
heads  of  the  fallen  race  that  a  great  teacher,  or  one  who 
should  seal  his  testimony  by  his  death,  could  save  them. 
They  were  not  treated  as  unfortunate  dupes  of  Satan, 
who  needed  only  a  spectacular  exhibition  of  self-sacrific- 
ing love  to  win  back  their  hearts  to  the  love  of  God.    No 
intimation  was  thrown  out  that  God,  as  the  moral  Gov- 
ernor of  the  world,  must  make  an  example  of  some  suf- 
ferer, in  order  that  he  might  not  be  misconstrued  when 
he  forgave  sin.     Nothing  of  all  this.     In  fact,  it  is  won- 
derful how  all  the  false  gospels  that  men  have  devised 
were  anticipated  by  the  first  promise,  and  condemned  in 
advance.     The  language  of  the  New  Testament  reads 
like  a  commentary  on  the  first  promise  :    "For  as  many 
as  are  of  the  works  of  the  law  are  under  the  curse :  for 
26 


402  SOUTHKRN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

it  is  written,  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not  in 
all  things  which  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to 
do  them.  .  .  .  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse 
of  the  law,  being  made  a  curse  for  us;  for  it  is  written, 
Cursed  is  every  one  that  hangeth  on  a  tree. ' '  (Galatians 
iii.  ID,  12.)  "For  as  by  one  man's  disobedience  many 
were  made  sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall 
many  be  made  righteous."     (Romans  v.  19.) 

III.  Passing  now  from  the  form  to  the  matter  of  this 
first  gospel,  we  have  an  intimation  of  a  conflict,  ending 
in  victory.  The  conflict  is  threefold.  We  take  the 
features  in  the  order  of  the  record. 

A  personal  conflict  is  first  announced.  "I  will  put 
enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman."  Literally,  I  am 
putting  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman.  The  con- 
flict has  already  begun ;  and  having  begun,  it  is  to  know 
no  end  in  this  world.  Such  seems  to  be  the  import  of 
the  phrase,  "  I  am  putting  enmity."  The  unholy  alliance 
between  Eve  and  the  serpent  has  been  broken.  Instead 
of  concord  there  is  enmity.  Eve  has  new  views,  new 
feelings,  and  new  purposes.  A  new  heart  has  been 
given  her.  This  great  change  is  expressly  said  to  be 
the  work  of  God.  In  its  beginning  and  in  its  progress 
he  claims  to  be  the  author  of  it.  It  was  a  work  of  grace. 
And  the  work  is  done  through  a  mediator.  The  con- 
text shows  this.  In  fact,  when  Eve  says,  in  Genesis 
iv.  I,  "I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord,"  she  speaks 
as  if  she  already  possessed  the  deliverer.  The  Scriptures 
teach  everywhere  that  two  great  objects  were  accom- 
plished by  the  work  of  Christ,  the  removal  of  the  curse 
due  to  sin,  and  restoration  to  the  image  and  fellowship 
of  God.  The  first  he  accomplished  by  his  obedience  to 
the  precept  and  penalty  of  the  law ;  the  second  he  secures 
by  the  renewing  and   sanctifying   power   of  the    Holy 


THE  GOSPEL  AS  FIRST   REVEALED.  403 

Spirit,  purchased  for  his  people.  It  would  seem  that 
Eve  was  the  first  subject  of  saving  grace,  as  she  had 
been  first  in  the  transgression.  And  that  the  evidence 
to  herself  and  to  others  of  the  reign  of  grace  in  her  heart 
was  a  war  against  the  serpent.  In  this  she  is  the  type 
of  all  her  descendants,  who,  like  her,  are  renewed  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  There  is  a  personal  conflict  for  every 
believer  with  the  evil  one.  The  seat  of  the  war  is  in 
the  heart.  The  dominion  of  sin  is  broken  by  the  new 
birth,  but  the  seeds  are  not  all  exterminated.  Satan 
does  not  yield  his  prey  without  an  effort.  The  Saviour 
sustains  faith  and  all  the  graces ;  Satan  injects  doubts, 
weakens  confidence,  seeks  to  seduce  by  his  guile.  The 
conflict  is  inevitable.  It  is  sometimes  prolonged,  and  it 
is  always  distressing ;  but  it  is  to  end  in  victory.  Chris- 
tians sometimes  complain  that  they  have  not  the  joys  of 
salvation.  They  forget  that  this  is  not  the  period  of 
reward.  This  is  the  day  of  battle.  It  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  a  battle-field  will  be  particularly  a  place  for 
<:omfort.  The  great  question  with  all  of  us  is,  are  we 
fighting  the  good  fight  of  faith  ?  Religion  has  its  joys 
even  here,  but  its  real  rev/ards  come  after  we  have  fought 
a  good  fight  and  have  finished  our  course.  Let  us  give 
attention  to  what  principally  concerns  us  here.  Are  we 
born  again?  Have  we  undergone  that  great  change 
represented  in  Eve?  Do  we  hate  evil?  There  are  but 
two  classes  of  men  upon  the  earth,  those  who  are  the 
enemies  of  the  evil  one,  and  those  who  have  in  them  the 
carnal  mind,  which  is  enmity  against  God.  It  may  seem 
strange  to  some  that  enmity  can  be  the  fruit  of  the  grace 
of  God,  or  taken  as  evidence  of  a  gracious  state.  The 
thought  is,  God  is  love,  and  to  be  like  him  we  must  be 
full  of  love.  Paul  says,  "Now  abideth  faith,  hope, 
charity;   but  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity."     But  it 


404  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTKRIAN   PULPIT. 

must  be  remembered  that  the  Scriptures  also  say,  "  The 
wrath  of  (xod  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  all  un- 
godliness and  unrighteousness  of  men."  We  have  also 
the  command,  "Ye  that  love  the  Lord,  hate  evil." 
The  fact  is,  that  the  moral  quality  of  our  affections  is 
determined  by  the  objects  to  v^hich  they  are  directed. 
It  is  right  to  love  holiness,  it  is  wrong  to  hate  holiness. 
It  is  right  to  hate  evil,  it  is  wrong  to  love  evil.  We  can 
never  love  (lod  too  ardently  ;  we  can  never  hate  the  evil 
one  excessively.  A  heart  that  does  not  love  God  is  not 
pure  ;  a  heart  that  does  not  hate  evil  is  corrupt.  Possibly 
there  is  a  suggestion  in  the  text  that  the  best  evidence 
of  a  renewed  state  is  enmity  to  the  devil  and  his  works. 
The  enmity  is  certainly  represented  as  progressing.  The 
statement,  "I  am  putting  enmity,"  sounds  very  much 
like  our  Lord's  language  about  the  leaven.  It  was  put 
in  the  meal,  where  it  worked  till  the  whole  was  leavened. 
Such  a  settled  and  growing  enmity  to  sin  harmonizes 
well  with  the  precept  to  avoid  in  the  life  the  very  ap- 
pearance of  evil.  If  such  is  the  state  of  the  heart,  there 
can  be  no  yearning  after  worldly  conformity,  and  self- 
denial  will  be  habitual.  The  thought  of  the  heart  will 
be,  how  can  we  be  delivered  from  the  evils  of  our  nature ; 
rather  than,  how  near  may  we  live  to  the  world  and  yet 
escape  its  doom  ! 

A  general  conflict  is  next  proclaimed.  I  am  putting 
enmity  "between  thy  seed  and  her  seed."  That  this  is 
a  conflict  distinct  from  the  one  mentioned  in  the  last 
clause  of  the  verse  is  clear,  because  there  the  parties 
are  the  serpent  himself  and  the  seed  of  the  woman. 
Who  are  the  parties  to  this  general  conflict?  To  limit 
the  seed  of  the  woman  and  the  seed  of  the  serpent  so  as 
to  make  the  conflict  nothing  more  than  the  mutual 
antipathy  between  all  men  and  literal  serpents  is  puerile. 


THE  GOSPEL  AS  FIRST  REVEALED.  405 

The  seed  of  the  woman,  in  the  strict  sense,  is  Christ. 
So  Paul  says  expressly,  in  Galatians  iii.  i6.  But  in  say- 
ing so  he  speaks  of  Christ  as  the  head  of  the  body  of 
believers.  That  the  word  ' '  vSeed ' '  is  used  in  a  secondary 
sense  is  clear  both  from  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New 
Testament.  The  two  lines  of  descent  from  Adam ,  through 
Cain  and  through  Seth,  indicate  the  import  of  the  phrases 
*  *  seed  of  the  woman ' '  and  ' '  seed  of  the  serpent. ' '  The 
first  is  the  ungodly  line,  in  which  is  found  polygamy  and 
murder.  The  second  is  the  line  of  life,  spiritual  life.  In 
John  viii.  44,  Jesus  said  to  the  wicked  Jews,  *'  Ye  are  of 
your  father  the  devil."  And  in  his  interpretation  of  the 
parable  of  the  tares  he  said,  **The  good  seed  are  the 
children  of  the  kingdom.  But  the  tares  are  the  children 
of  the  wicked  one. "  It  is  plain  that  the  parties  to  this 
general  conflict  are  two  sections  of  the  descendants  of 
Eve.  Satan  set  up  a  kingdom  in  this  world  when  he 
triumphed  in  Eden.  He  is  called  the  god  of  this  world, 
and  he  is  the  head  of  an  organized  conspiracy  of  evil. 
Christ's  people  are  also  an  organized  host,  going  forth 
under  his  leadership  to  conquer  this  world.  For  six 
thousand  years  this  mighty  conflict  has  been  waged. 
The  battle  has  been  fierce,  as  well  as  long.  Beginning 
with  righteous  Abel  under  the  Old  Testament,  and  again 
with  holy  Stephen  under  this  dispensation,  the  church 
has  her  roll  of  martyrs  to  the  truth.  And  yet  victory  is 
certain.  In  these  last  days  we  see  the  promise  of  ap- 
proaching triumph.  The  church  of  God  confronts  the 
kingdom  of  darkness  in  every  quarter  of  the  earth.  It 
was  my  privilege  once  to  witness  a  review  of  a  great 
army.  Stretching  across  a  broad  plain  in  double  lines, 
composed  of  strong  men  with  brave  hearts,  the  bur- 
nished arms  flashing  in  the  sunlight,  while  the  waving 
banners     mark    the    various    organizations — the    sight 


406  SOUTHERN  PRESBYTERIAN  PULPIT. 

was  inspiring  to  the  heart  of  a  patriot.  In  a  moment, 
however,  my  mind  reverted  to  the  church,  and  I  felt  the 
force  of  the  exclamation,  ' '  Who  is  she  that  looketh  forth 
as  the  morning,  fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  and 
terrible  as  an  army  with  banners!  "  Brethren,  are  we 
good  soldiers  of  Christ?  Do  we  sympathize  with  the 
purposes  of  our  great  teacher?  Are  we  obedient  to 
orders,  patient  under  discipline  and  present  for  duty? 
Are  we  sustaining  the  church  at  home  and  abroad  ? 

Last  of  all,  we  have  the  announcement  of  a  special  con- 
flict. "  He  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise 
his  heel."  The  parties  here  are  Christ  and  the  devil. 
That  Christ  is  intended  has  always  been  the  faith  of  the 
church ;  and  for  it  there  is  good  reason.  He  is  identi- 
fied, as  we  have  seen,  by  the  Apostle  Paul  as  the  ''seed ' ' 
of  the  woman.  The  term  did  not  begin  with  Abraham 
and  the  covenant  with  him,  to  which  the  apostle  refers. 
It  had  its  introduction  in  the  Eden  gospel.  From  the 
mother  of  the  race  it  descended,  narrowing  as  it  w^ent,  to 
Abraham  and  then  to  David's  line,  and  was  fulfilled  in 
Christ.  Besides  this,  why  is  he  the  seed  of  Eve  and  not 
of  Adam  ?  In  the  covenant  of  works  Adam  was  the  party 
made  prominent.  And  so  it  was  in  the  case  of  Noah, 
of  Abraham,  and  of  David.  There  must  have  been  some 
peculiar  sense  in  which  the  word  * '  seed ' '  w^as  used  in 
this  first  promise — a  sense  like  that  realized  in  the  son  of 
Mary.  And  still  further,  it  is  only  at  this  feature  of  the 
conflict  that  victory  is  proclaimed.  The  result  of  the 
personal  and  the  general  conflict  is  not  stated.  The 
victor  comes  in  at  the  special  conflict,  not  only  triumph- 
ing gloriously  over  the  great  enemy  of  God  and  man,  but 
reflecting  triumph  back  upon  the  Christian  conflict,  both 
in  its  individual  and  general  aspect.  He  is  represented 
as  a  person,  as  the  son  of  the  woman,  and  as  the  con- 


THE  GOSPEL  AS  FIRST  REVEALED. 


407 


queror  of  the  devil ;  a  true  man,  and  yet  more  than  a  man. 
The  voice  of  prophecy  continued  to  hold  up  the  com- 
ing seed  of  the  woman  to  the  faith  of  the  ancient  church 
as  a  mighty  conqueror.  The  apostles  proclaimed  that 
the  risen  Saviour  had  assailed  principalites  and  powers. 
The  authors  of  the  life  of  our  Lord  represent  him  as  spe- 
cially engaged  in  conflict  with  the  devil  at  the  opening 
and  the  close  of  his  public  ministry.  All  the  guile  of  the 
tempter  was  brought  into  play  in  the  assault  in  the  wil- 
derness, and  all  his  malice  and  power  in  Gethsemane  and 
on  Calvary.  This  world  has  no  other  battle-field  like 
these.  The  serpent  had  power  to  bruise  his  heel.  This 
does  not  denote  the  slight  injury  supposed  by  some. 
A  gallant  officer,  a  friend  of  mine,  received  a  Minie  ball 
in  the  heel,  by  a  flanking  column,  in  one  of  the  great 
battles  of  the  late  war  between  the  States.  Hearing  of 
it,  I  inquired  about  it  of  the  surgeons.  They  said,  ' '  Not 
necessarily  fatal,  but  serious."  The  heel,  they  said,  had 
so  many  bones  that  a  wound  there  was  serious.  And  so 
it  was.  He  suffered  much  and  long,  but  lives  to-day  to 
be  elected  for  the  third  time  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  What  the  Saviour  of  sinners  endured  in  the 
garden  and  on  the  cross  no  heart  can  conceive.  But  the 
victory  was  never  for  a  moment  doubtful ;  and  it  was 
thorough  and  complete.  He  bruised  the  serpent's  head. 
Through  death  he  destroyed  him  that  had  the  power  of 
death.  And  now,  my  hearer,  is  not  this  enough?  May 
I  not  ask  you  to  look  to  this  victorious  sufferer  and  live! 
He  had  no  battle  of  his  own  to  fight,  he  entered  the  lists 
as  our  friend.  He  met  our  enemy  and  overcame  him 
for  us.  He  has  the  right  in  view  of  his  triumph  to  say, 
"Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest."  He  said  in  anticipation  of 
his  death,  **And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me. ' '     Shall  it  not  be  true  of  you  ? 


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